ISLAMABAD – Slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s party is the most popular in the country, two surveys said Monday, with one week to go until crucial general elections.
President Pervez Musharraf and his political backers lose out in the polls by separate US-based groups, with more than two-thirds of Pakistanis calling for the former army general to quit.
Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party is “benefiting from both a wave of sympathy as well as a backlash against the government” following her murder in December, the International Republican Institute said in its survey.
Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party is “benefiting from both a wave of sympathy as well as a backlash against the government” following her murder in December, the International Republican Institute said in its survey.
Musharraf’s allies, the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, were chosen by only 14 percent, said the survey released on Monday.
The survey found that the “vast majority” — 75 percent — of Pakistanis wanted Musharraf out of office. His approval rating was at a new low of 15 percent, the survey said.
Pakistanis also blamed the government for Bhutto’s death at an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, with 62 percent holding it responsible, it added.
Only 16 believing the government’s line that Al-Qaeda-linked militants were responsible.
“This indicates a collapse in the government’s credibility among its citizens,” the survey said.
A separate survey released over the weekend by the US-based Terror Free Tomorrow organisation gave similar results.
The poll found that 36.7 percent of people said they would vote for the PPP while 25.3 percent chose Sharif’s grouping.
Only 12 percent said they would vote for PML-Q.
Seventy percent said they thought Musharraf should resign, the poll added.
The poll further said that sympathy for Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had dropped sharply, with only 24 percent of Pakistanis approving of him against 46 percent in a similar poll in August.
The IRI said it polled 3,485 men and women between January 19-29. Terror Free Tomorrow said it surveyed 1,157 people over the same period.
Bhutto’s husband will campaign in Pakistan’s political heartland this week, an aide said, leading a rally in the major industrial town of Faisalabad in Punjab province on Thursday.
Punjab plays a kingmaking role in Pakistani politics, as the bulk of the seats in parliament are from the populous province, where more than half the Islamic republic’s 160-million people live.
“Asif Ali Zardari will convey Bhutto’s message to the people of the largest province, which is vital for us,” close aide Zulfiqar Mirza told AFP. “He will explain that Bhutto’s mission was to fight for the rights of the people.”
“Asif Ali Zardari will convey Bhutto’s message to the people of the largest province, which is vital for us,” close aide Zulfiqar Mirza told AFP. “He will explain that Bhutto’s mission was to fight for the rights of the people.”
“Punjab is a major province, it is the heart of Pakistan, it is our power base because it has always lent support to the PPP,” Mirza said.
Campaigning has so far been sparse in Pakistan due to government warnings of attacks on rallies. A suicide bombing at a meeting of a small opposition party in northwest Pakistan on Saturday killed at least 25 people.
But on the same day Zardari held a rally in southern Pakistan that was attended by around 100,000 people.
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