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Pakistan puts back election date
Elections were two weeks away when Bhutto was killed
Amateur video
Elections originally scheduled for 8 January in Pakistan will now take place on 18 February, polling officials say.
The chief election commissioner said it would not be possible to hold the vote as scheduled following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
At least 47 people have been killed in violence around Pakistan since Ms Bhutto's death last Thursday.
The main opposition parties wanted the poll to go ahead as planned, and accuse officials of seeking to rig the vote.
'Not conducive'
Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq said violent protests had directly affected the organisation of the poll.
PPP TOP LEADERS
Asif Ali Zardari Benazir's widower and former political ally, has faced corruption and other charges
Bilawal Bhutto (pictured) Benazir's son, a 19-year-old Oxford University student, considered too young by some PPP members
Makhdoom Amin Fahim Senior PPP figure and top aide to Benazir
He told a news conference in Islamabad that the election commission had decided the situation was "not conducive" to holding the vote on time.
Therefore, he said, he had decided it would take place after the holy month of Muharram, which begins next week.
A number of polling offices had been burnt down, particularly in Ms Bhutto's home province of Sindh, with the loss of many election materials, Mr Farooq said.
The riots had also delayed printing of ballot papers by four days and new lists of voters were required, he added.
Opposition parties say any delay is a desperate measure designed to avoid defeat by President Pervez Musharraf's ruling party.
"There are no grounds whatsoever for delaying the elections," Raza Rabbani, deputy secretary general of Ms Bhutto's PPP party said earlier.
"It is being done only at the behest of the PML-Q as they are seeing their defeat."
The ruling PML-Q party had said the 8 January vote should be delayed for several weeks, on the grounds that the vote would "lose credibility" if held under current conditions.
The BBC's Chris Morris in Islamabad says the PPP wanted elections as soon as possible, in order to take advantage of what could be a big sympathy vote.
Dossier on 'rigging'
On Tuesday, one of Ms Bhutto's aides said that the day the PPP leader was killed, she had been planning to give two visiting US lawmakers a 160-page dossier setting out how she thought the vote would be rigged.
The aide said it documented how Pakistan's ISI intelligence service and the election commission planned to use intimidation and fake ballots to ensure a ruling party victory.
President Pervez Musharraf's spokesman dismissed the claims as "ridiculous".
"Take it from me, it's going to be perhaps the best election that Pakistan has ever had," said Rashid Qureshi.
The authorities have accused pro-Taleban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud of being behind her killing.
On Wednesday, the military said troops had killed about 25 militants in the tribal region of South Waziristan where Baitullah Mehsud is based.
Fighting began on Tuesday after four troops were taken hostage by the militants, the authorities say.
There is no independent confirmation of the military's account.
Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan sets new election date
Published: 2008/01/02 12:56:09 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Elections were two weeks away when Bhutto was killed
Amateur video
Elections originally scheduled for 8 January in Pakistan will now take place on 18 February, polling officials say.
The chief election commissioner said it would not be possible to hold the vote as scheduled following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
At least 47 people have been killed in violence around Pakistan since Ms Bhutto's death last Thursday.
The main opposition parties wanted the poll to go ahead as planned, and accuse officials of seeking to rig the vote.
'Not conducive'
Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq said violent protests had directly affected the organisation of the poll.
PPP TOP LEADERS
Asif Ali Zardari Benazir's widower and former political ally, has faced corruption and other charges
Bilawal Bhutto (pictured) Benazir's son, a 19-year-old Oxford University student, considered too young by some PPP members
Makhdoom Amin Fahim Senior PPP figure and top aide to Benazir
He told a news conference in Islamabad that the election commission had decided the situation was "not conducive" to holding the vote on time.
Therefore, he said, he had decided it would take place after the holy month of Muharram, which begins next week.
A number of polling offices had been burnt down, particularly in Ms Bhutto's home province of Sindh, with the loss of many election materials, Mr Farooq said.
The riots had also delayed printing of ballot papers by four days and new lists of voters were required, he added.
Opposition parties say any delay is a desperate measure designed to avoid defeat by President Pervez Musharraf's ruling party.
"There are no grounds whatsoever for delaying the elections," Raza Rabbani, deputy secretary general of Ms Bhutto's PPP party said earlier.
"It is being done only at the behest of the PML-Q as they are seeing their defeat."
The ruling PML-Q party had said the 8 January vote should be delayed for several weeks, on the grounds that the vote would "lose credibility" if held under current conditions.
The BBC's Chris Morris in Islamabad says the PPP wanted elections as soon as possible, in order to take advantage of what could be a big sympathy vote.
Dossier on 'rigging'
On Tuesday, one of Ms Bhutto's aides said that the day the PPP leader was killed, she had been planning to give two visiting US lawmakers a 160-page dossier setting out how she thought the vote would be rigged.
The aide said it documented how Pakistan's ISI intelligence service and the election commission planned to use intimidation and fake ballots to ensure a ruling party victory.
President Pervez Musharraf's spokesman dismissed the claims as "ridiculous".
"Take it from me, it's going to be perhaps the best election that Pakistan has ever had," said Rashid Qureshi.
The authorities have accused pro-Taleban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud of being behind her killing.
On Wednesday, the military said troops had killed about 25 militants in the tribal region of South Waziristan where Baitullah Mehsud is based.
Fighting began on Tuesday after four troops were taken hostage by the militants, the authorities say.
There is no independent confirmation of the military's account.
Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan sets new election date
Published: 2008/01/02 12:56:09 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
