Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said that President Pervez Musharraf [Images] wants fair general elections but the ground situation in that country is 'not conducive' for that.

Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party chief, said her party's talks with the military regime had focused on a level-playing field for all political parties for holding of fair elections for transition to democracy for an empowered Parliament.

"Musharraf seems to be very positive. He wants fair elections but on the ground the situation is not so optimistic because the electoral rolls have been rigged. So, the outcome of the elections has been rigged before the first ballot is cast," she told PTI in an interview in London [Images].

"They have taken the polling stations where we won and reduced all the votes we won so that we would lose and taken the polling stations they won and they have increased the polling stations with duplicate votes to see they win with bigger margin," Bhutto alleged.

She said no settlement has been reached in her party's dialogue with Musharraf to facilitate transition from military rule to a democratic government.

Bhutto said as time goes by the possibility of such a settlement 'diminishes' unless the core issue of fair election and other issues relating to future of Pakistan are resolved.

Describing it as an open dialogue, Bhutto said, "We do not believe in any secret negotiation. All our dialogues are open and they have been going on for at least six months."

"We have kept the doors of dialogue open to facilitate transfer from military rule to a democratic government but there has not yet been a settlement. And as the weeks go by,  the likelihood of such a settlement diminishes, unless the core issues of a fair election as well as other issues pertaining to our country's future direction are resolved," she said.

She said Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Nawaz Sharif was also having dialogue with the military regime.

"We have raised this because we were also informed that the military regime is negotiating with him and he conceded that certain interlocutors had been to see him. But he said he has not reached any understanding with them," Bhutto said.

Bhutto said if the issue of fair election is not sorted out, 'if the Constitution is not respected by not allowing every eligible voter to vote, then we will not have fair election. Then, we will have problem there. Then, we will be heading like a situation in Ukraine where the Orange revolution took place.'

She said, "If fair election is held, PPP is definitely going to win -- this is what independent polls are showing. The International Republican Institute has predicted that PPP is the most popular party with most widespread support."

"We also have a good working relationship with other smaller regional parties with whom we are cooperating in Parliament," she said.

As regards her party's tie up with Nawaz Sharif's PML (N), she said they had signed a Charter of Democracy under which they have agreed that whether 'we are in government or Opposition we will support each other for building a political system that creates a pluralistic and tolerant culture in Pakistan."

Bhutto ruled out any cooperation with Musharraf as long as he kept the uniform on and rigged the elections.