Delayed

This is not going to sit well with the PPP and those who are generally opposed to Pervez Musharraf. The Pakistani government has announced that the elections originally scheduled for January 8 will be rescheduled for some time in February.

The election date is expected to be announced formally on Wednesday, and President Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to address to the nation that evening.

The timing of the elections and how the news of the delay is received could be critical to Pakistan’s stability. The two main opposition parties have threatened continuous protests against the government over the delay.

Members of Mr. Musharraf’s faction of the Pakistan Muslim League acknowledged in the last several days that the elections could not be delayed for more than six weeks without risking fresh outbreaks of violence. “Six weeks is just about the outer limit before the frustration really hurts Musharraf,” said a member of the president’s faction.

The Election Commission secretary, Kunwar Muhammad Dilshad, said it would not be possible to hold the elections next Tuesday because the printing of ballot papers had stopped after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the opposition leader, and rioters had damaged election offices in Sindh Province.

New rioting could break out in response to the latest news, and could further deal Musharraf problems that he's barely able to contain at present.

UPDATE 1/2/2008:
Musharraf has announced that the elections will take place February 18. The opposition parties had hoped for the elections to go off as scheduled on January 8 so as to capitalize on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. They're now claiming that Musharraf changed the date so as to maximize his chances.