In October 1999, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pervez Musharraf, launched a military coup which ousted Sharif from power. Bhutto called the coup "disturbing" and "distressing" but noted that it had got rid of Sharif, "an unpopular despot who was hounding the press, the judiciary, the opposition, the foreign investors." She called on Western countries to push for a return to electoral democracy in Pakistan. Musharraf stated that both Sharif and Bhutto had "misgoverned the country" and had failed to allow internal democracy within their own parties, pointing to Bhutto's appointment as chair for life of the PPP, something he compared to "the old African dictators".