Musharraf Confident He’d Win a Referendum, Minister Says
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is confident voters will give him five more years in power if he decides to call a referendum on his rule, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said Sunday.
Musharraf, who took power in a coup in October 1999, says he needs more time to push through the economic and political reforms needed to bring stability to his country.
“He’s considering to go for a referendum, and he feels he will have a direct mandate from the people,” Haider said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, where he is to attend an Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting on terrorism that starts today.
Musharraf told journalists in Pakistan on Saturday that a decision on a referendum would be made within a week. The country’s Election Commission said a referendum should be held within a month of its announcement.
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