Pakistan's Election Commission has upheld an election ban on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his lawyer said today, barring a main rival of President Pervez Musharraf from the January polls.
Sharif, who Musharraf ousted in 1999, was allowed back from seven years of exile last month and has been campaigning for the January 8 general election despite the ban, imposed this month for past criminal convictions he says were politically motivated.
Sharif had challenged the ban, but the Election Commission rejected his appeal, saying it should be filed with an election tribunal made up of judges who swore allegiance to Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule on November 3.
"We told the Election Commission these tribunals are not properly constituted because that was done in consultation with the president but they said 'no, we cannot make an exception for Nawaz Sharif'," Sharif's lawyer, Akram Sheikh, told Reuters.
"Nawaz Sharif has taken a principled stand that he would not appeal before the PCO judges," Sheikh said, referring to a provisional constitutional order promulgated by Musharraf after he invoked emergency powers.
After imposing the emergency, Musharraf fired dozens of judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who were seen as hostile to his October re-election by legislators while still army chief.
Election authorities have also barred Sharif's brother, Shahbaz, from running, citing financial irregularities.
A spokesman for Sharif said the rejection of the Sharifs' nominations was part of government plan to rig the election.
"This rejection is meant to send a signal to supporters of Nawaz Sharif that their party is not going to come to power," said the spokesman, Nadir Chaudhri.
The vote is a three-way race between former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who returned from eight years of self-imposed exile in October, Sharif's party, despite his exclusion, and the party that has ruled under Musharraf and backs him.