The two biggest parties in the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Jammat-e-Islami (JI) and Jammiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) will contest the upcoming local government elections separately. "Both parties have decided that they will contest the next local body elections from their own platforms," sources in the MMA told Daily Times. The issue was discussed in a recent meeting of the MMA Supreme Council and it was the JUI-F that proposed member parties contest the local elections separately."The JI was against this, but the JUI-F was adamant on going solo because it is participating in local body elections for the first time," the sources said. They said the JUI-F expected to cash in on its greater popularity relative to the JI in Balochistan and the NWFP. The JI, they added, wants to secure more seats in Punjab and Sindh. JI leaders proposed that since local government elections would be held on a non-party basis, the MMA could use another name — they proposed "Al-Khidmat" - and contest the elections jointly, but the JUI-F rejected the proposal.
| The cockles of my heart are a bit warmer for reading this. Qazi and Fazl going their separate ways can only be a good thing. And Sami's already gotten in his Huff and driven off into the political sunset. This is one of those things Perv does well, and the ghost of Anna Comnena advises me not to bother him while he's working. |