The Election Commission has cleared the decks for Pervez Musharraf's re-election as Pakistan's president for another five-year term by amending the rules governing the presidential polls, according to a government minister.
"The Election Commission has amended the Presidential Election Rules, 1988, so that Article 63 of the Constitution no longer applies to the president," media reported in Islamabad on Sunday, quoting Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sher Afgan Niazi as saying.
Article 63 lays down various conditions under which a person can be disqualified from being a member of Parliament.
"Now Article 63 does not apply to the president. Its clauses, which prevents government servants from participating in elections unless they have been retired for at least two years, and stops anyone who holds an office of profit in the service of Pakistan from participating in elections, also do not apply to the president," the minister said.
According to Niazi, after amending the rules, the chief election commissioner issued a notification, which has become part of an official gazette, under which Musharraf can contest the presidential polls and subsequently get re-elected as the Islamic nation's president.
"With the amendment in the rules, the returning officer for the poll can no longer conduct a probe or reject any nomination paper if the candidate is subject to disqualification from being elected as, or from being, a member of Parliament as provided in Article 63.