The US Ambassador, Anne Patterson, on Tuesday visited the Election Commission here and urged the Chief Election Commissioner to announce the election schedule as soon as possible to reassure the people of Pakistan and the international community that the government remains committed to holding elections on schedule.
''The United States remains committed to supporting free, fair and credible elections in Pakistan. I met today with the Election Commissioner to reiterate strong US interest in ensuring that parliamentary elections take place as planned in January,'' she said in a statement released by US Embassy here.
''The United States is working to strengthen democratic institutions that will establish a stable and democratic future for the people of Pakistan. "The United States has provided more than $26 million in bilateral and multilateral program assistance in Pakistan for voter education, political party development, computerisation of the voting rolls, training of political poll watchers, and domestic and international election observation missions.
The last 80,000 of the 430,000 transparent ballot boxes we and the Japanese have purchased will be delivered by December 9. As of November 20, we plan to have our long-term independent election observers on the ground.
''We have been offering Pakistani journalists training in how to effectively report elections. We are helping the Election Commission publish the voter list on their website.
''Our goal is to help Pakistan hold free, fair, and credible elections in which the people can choose their own leaders. But for elections to be credible, opposition political party leaders and their party workers must be released from jail or house arrest. The media must be free to report on events and share their opinions with the public,'' the statement said.
''I urged the Commissioner to announce the election schedule as soon as possible to reassure the people of Pakistan and the international community that the government remains committed to holding elections on schedule. We also expect President Musharraf to step down as Chief of Army Staff and begin his promised transition to civilian democratic rule. ''As President Bush has said, we urge President Musharraf to restore democracy as quickly as possible,'' the statement concluded.
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