Zia Bars Use of Party Affiliations in Pakistan’s Nov. 16 Election

President Zia ul-Haq delivered a crippling blow to Pakistan’s political opposition Thursday by announcing that candidates in national elections scheduled for November will not be allowed to campaign on the basis of party affiliation.

Zia had announced a day earlier that the elections will take place Nov. 16. He called a press conference Thursday to clear up what he described as confusion over the rules for the campaign. Party-based campaigns have not been allowed in 18 years.

Zia, who has ruled this country of 100 million people for the past 11 years, quoted George Washington in an effort to justify his decision. Smiling, he said to a reporter:

“As your George Washington once said, America would do better without political parties. And you are living in a vast country where democracy has been developed over years--centuries. We always labor to look to the U.S. as a democratic model, but they only have two parties there. Here we have a ton of them, and our parties rely more on rhetoric and sloganeering than on the candidate’s personal character and his politics.”

Reporters asked Zia whether his decision could cause the opposition to boycott the elections, as it did in 1985, when Zia laid down similar campaign rules.

“They learned their lesson the last time,” he said. “No one will boycott.”

Before Zia announced his decision, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto told an interviewer that she considers nonpartisan elections unconstitutional and undemocratic.

“How can you say it is a democratic election,” she asked, “when I cannot campaign as party leader outside of my own small constituency? And without a party flag or symbol on the ballot (they are banned by Zia’s ruling), in a country where there is 27% literacy and no one can read the names of candidates, how can it be a reflection of the will of the people?”

Zia had already put Bhutto at a disadvantage by setting the election date for about the time she is expected to deliver a baby.

He was asked at Thursday’s press conference whether he is trying to outmaneuver Bhutto, whose father, the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was overthrown by Zia in 1977.

“You are assuming too much,” he replied, laughing.

Responding to a suggestion that Bhutto’s party is threatening his rule , Zia said, “You have a very exaggerated view of the particular party you mention.”

Zia, who has said he will retire from the presidency when his term expires in 1990, was asked whether he would permit Bhutto to be prime minister during his final two years as president, and he replied:

“I am the president of Pakistan. I am here to uphold the constitution, and the constitution demands me to nominate the prime minister, a person who can gain the confidence of the people.”

He did not say whether Bhutto might be such a person, but he hinted that he does not think so.

In response to questions about whether he might postpone the elections, as he has in the past, he said: “My track record . . . is not very good. I admit it. I hope that I have improved it. . . . Unless something out of the ordinary happens, God willing, elections will be held on the 16th of November.”