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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-02 21:00

Pakistan's parliamentary polls, originally scheduled for January 8, would be postponed to February 18, the election commission said Wednesday.

The chief election commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq said the postponement was mainly due to damages to election materials.

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"The violence, which followed the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, led to the destruction of 11 election offices with electoral rolls and transparent ballot boxes, and adversely affected the printing of ballot papers, training of poll workers and other pre-election logistics," Farooq said at a news conference here.

The Sindh province requested the postponement of general elections, said Farooq.

The election commission on Wednesday reviewed the reports from the provincial election commission offices and held consultations with political parties and eventually made the decision to postpone the elections.

"I assure all political parties that elections will be fair and transparent," said Farooq.

He also urged all political parties to participate in the elections.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that his opposition party will take part in the February 18 parliamentary elections, a spokesman said.

The Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) quoted President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif as saying that there was no reason for postponement of elections and those desirous of delaying polls wanted so to avoid crushing defeat.