Election Result May Shift Power Balance

Pakistan is to get its first one-party elected government after a landslide victory by Nawaz Sharif in the nation’s general election. Benazir Bhutto, her Pakistan People’s Party reduced to the margins in the National Assembly, rejected the result, but said she would not create instability because poor people would suffer. The result should give Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League a two-thirds majority--enough to change the constitution to remove the president’s discretion to fire any prime minister he dislikes. Removal of the provision, introduced by Pakistan’s former military rulers to keep politicians in check, would represent a far-reaching shift in the balance of power.