ISLAMABAD (AP): Pakistan’s crucial Jan. 8 parliamentary elections are likely to be postponed by up to four months following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, a spokesman for the ruling party said Sunday.

Tariq Azim, information secretary of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, said the vote would lose credibility if it was held now, with Bhutto’s party in mourning and other opposition groups intent on boycotting. He expected authorities to announce a delay within 24 hours.

“How long the postponement will be for will up to the Election Commission,” he told The Associated Press. “I think we are looking at a delay of a few weeks … of up to three or four months.”

The caretaker government said it had started consultations with political parties but there was no immediate plan to reschedule the elections which are meant to usher in democracy after eight years of military rule under President Pervez Musharraf.

The Election Commission is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday to decide how to proceed.

Azim referred to the destruction of several election offices in rioting after Bhutto’s killing in a suicide attack on Thursday as another reason for delaying the vote. The commission has said that hampered the printing of ballot slips and the training of poll workers.

Azim said the caretaker government has already suggested a conference of all Pakistan’s political parties on how to conduct the vote.

“Dialogue is imperative so a new date is agreed with the opposition parties to make the elections meaningful. To have the elections now while (Bhutto’s) Pakistan People’s Party is still in mourning, to expect candidates to go out campaigning is unfair,” said Azim.

“The elections will lose credibility,” he said.

The party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who leads the other main opposition party, has already decided to boycott the vote. Leaders of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party were meeting Sunday to decide whether to follow suit - a move that would rob the elections of legitimacy.

All opposition parties have claimed the elections are likely to be rigged because of alleged bias in the Election Commission and the caretaker government.

Information Minister Nisar Memon said the government was waiting for the results of Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro’s consultations with political parties.

“When we receive their views and the reports from the Election Commission about the extent of the damage done to their offices we’ll go back to the drawing board and take all the factors into account. But right now we stand on the elections being held to schedule

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