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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakland's hung parliament... |
| 2002-10-14 |
| With most of the votes counted, no single party had won enough seats in the 342-member National Assembly to form government without support from coalition partners. The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam had the most seats, 78. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had 62 seats. The other main opposition party, the once mighty Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had just 14 seats. A loose alliance of six anti-American Muslim parties, the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal, or United Council of Action, had 45. PML-N has been tending toward snuggling with the MMA fundos and thugs. Benazir got a bit over half the seats she'd been expecting. I haven't seen anything on Muttahida Quami Movement's results — presumably not so hot. Perv sez he expects the fundos to participate in the government. Support for Islamic candidates was so strong that the former leader of a banned militant group won a seat while locked up in a jail cell. Azam Tariq, who ran as an independent, headed the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba, a Sunni Muslim organisation blamed for scores of terrorist attacks aimed at minority Shi'ite Muslims. That tells me that extremism isn't something that's imposed on Pakland, but something that grows naturally... As the third-largest group in the assembly, the Islamic front is not guaranteed a role in the federal government. But to shut it out completely, the Pakistan Muslim League would have to form a coalition with its arch enemy, the PPP. That isn't going to happen. Their own maneuverings are much more important than the good of their country... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 All things equal, hung Parliament is better then dictator hung from a tree... |
| Posted by: Brian 2002-10-14 20:16:51 |
| #1 Sorry to have to inform already disappointed persons that the MMA prohibited their female supporters from voting. By the measure of voter intent, the MMA is probably supported by 75% of Pakistanis. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-10-14 13:34:24 |