(Corrects year of civilian rule in sixth paragraph in story published on Nov. 15.)

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf appointed a ruling party official to run his interim government until parliamentary elections that opposition leaders say will be flawed unless emergency rule is lifted.

Mohammedmian Soomro, chairman of the Senate since 2003, will take oath tomorrow as prime minister, state-run Pakistan Television said. Soomro, 57, will replace Shaukat Aziz after the 342-member parliament is dissolved at midnight, the first civilian government to complete a five-year term.

Soomro will oversee the election process at a time political rallies are banned and more than 15,000 opposition supporters have been detained. Opposition leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have said their political parties may boycott elections scheduled to be held before Jan. 9 unless Musharraf restores the constitution.

``Free and fair elections are not possible under emergency rule when the entire opposition is missing from the scene,'' Ishtiaq Ahmed, associate professor of international relations at Quaid-e-Azam International University in Islamabad, said in a telephone interview today. ``In this scenario, there will be a selection and not an election. No one will accept the results.''

Caretaker Government

Musharraf, who took power in a military coup in 1999, declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3, saying the judiciary was undermining his government's fight against terrorism. U.S. President George W. Bush, who views Musharraf as a key ally in the fight against terrorism, is sending Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to Pakistan this week to persuade Musharraf to restore the constitution.

Soomro will head Pakistan's fourth caretaker government since the South Asian nation returned to civilian rule in 1988, after former President General Zia-ul-Haq died in a plane crash ending his 11-year military rule.

Between 1988 and 1999, four civilian governments headed by former premiers Bhutto and Sharif were sacked on charges of corruption before completing their terms.

Bhutto survived Pakistan's worst terror attack when she returned from eight years of self-imposed exile last month. The leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party has been under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore since Nov. 13.

Soomro, 57, is a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and a native of Shikarpur in the southern province of Sindh. He was previously chief executive of International Bank of Yemen and National Bank of Pakistan before he entered politics in 2000.

Emergency Rule

Musharraf imposed emergency rule as an 11-member panel of judges was about to rule on his re-election as president. He sacked the country's Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and 13 other Supreme Court judges and imposed media curbs.

Musharraf won a majority vote in an Oct. 6 presidential ballot by assemblies. Musharraf will relinquish his position as head of the army after the Supreme Court rules on his candidacy, Malik Mohammed Qayum, the government's lawyer told reporters in Islamabad today.

``The court may start hearing the case next week and we hope they will give a decision by the end of the week,'' he said.

Opposition parties say the ban on public gatherings and the arrests of political workers undermine the credibility of the elections. Bush's spokeswoman Dana Perino said today Musharraf should lift the emergency to help restore democracy.

``President Musharraf has a responsibility to his citizens to return to a constitutional order and to hold the elections that he said he would have,'' Perino said.

Bhutto has spoken with cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and Sharif in the last two days to forge a coalition to topple Musharraf.

Pakistani authorities arrested Sharif at Islamabad International Airport on Sept. 10 and deported him back to Saudi Arabia after he tried to return from exile. Sharif has been Pakistan's prime minister twice between 1990 and 1999.

The U.S. has given Pakistan more than $10 billion in aid since 2001, mostly to the military which is battling al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels along the mountainous border with Afghanistan.

Pakistanis should be ``allowed to peacefully protest, to assemble and to express their views,'' Dana Perino, Bush's spokeswoman, said yesterday in Washington. ``We don't see how it is possible to have free and fair elections under emergency rule.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad on kqayum@bloomberg.net; Khaleeq Ahmed in Islamabad on

Last Updated: November 15, 2007 22:50 EST