The party backing President Pervez Musharraf, PML-Q has suspended campaigning for January 8 elections, a spokesman said on Sunday, adding that a 12-week delay in the vote was "realistic". Tariq Azim, former deputy information minister, said that conditions in the country had become too difficult because of unrest over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
It was the clearest official indication yet that the parliamentary elections will be pushed back. "We have suspended our campaign because of the prevailing situation," Azim told AFP. "We do not have a climate in which we can canvass voters."
"Keeping everything in mind, a delay of 10 to 12 weeks is realistic," Azim said. He said that Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had already declared its own 40-day period of mourning. "Perhaps it will be asking too much of the PPP if they are to go to voters and contest the elections next week," he added.
The run-up to the vote has been chaotic with several violent incidents. "We can support the delay in elections, but it should not be for an indefinite period," Pervaiz Elahi, former Punjab chief minister and PML-Q's prime ministerial hopeful, told AFP.