Pakistan The Cycle Is Broken

Benazir Bhutto suffers a humiliating defeat

Despite charges of corruption and mismanagement leveled against her, Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party were confident of winning at the polls last week. They bought victory advertisements in the newspapers even before the results were known. The ads appeared next morning, but Bhutto's victory did not. The surprise runaway winner was the Islamic Democratic Alliance, a loose coalition of eight, mostly right-leaning parties, most of which sat in opposition to the former Prime Minister during her 20 months in power. The winners captured 105 of the 216 seats contested for the National Assembly, while Bhutto's party ended with 45,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!