It Probably seemed like a good plan at the time. Lauded in the West for backing America's war on terror, and admired at home for taking on both corrupt politicians and extremist mullahs while avoiding dictatorial excess, General Pervez Musharraf must have thought that he would sail through this week's referendum on his assumed presidency, and use it to cement himself into power. On April 30th the electorate duly granted the general a five-year presidential term. But his problems may only now be beginning. As bogus political exercises go, this one was a corker. The poll was conducted without the benefit of an electoral register, identity cards were not obligatory and the usual polling stations were supplemented by tens of thousands of makeshift extra ones: in railway stations, offices, on street corners, in hotels. Businesses and government outfits were leant on heavily to ensure that all their employees voted. Oodles of government money was lavished on plastering the country with posters of the general in a startling variety of outfits and on festooning the main streets with banners bearing such sentiments as "We love Pakistan. We love Pervez Musharraf".
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