PAKISTAN: Hardline Islamic parties have made surprising gains in Pakistan's first elections since a 1999 military coup, potentially giving them the balance of power in a future coalition government.
With results in for more than half of the national assembly's 272 constituency seats, a party loyal to President Pervez Musharraf led the way, but was well short of an overall majority.
The religious parties exploited the anger felt over Pakistan's co-operation in the US-led war on terror, virtually sweeping the board in conservative parts of western Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
Widespread voter apathy and the fact that former prime ministers Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif were both excluded from the polls also appeared to have played into their hands.
Political commentators said the religious parties - some of them vocal supporters of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime - could now hold the balance of power in a coalition government.
"This is extremely significant and ominous," said Najam Sethi, editor of the influential Friday Times. "They are a very serious force to be reckoned with."
With results in from 187 seats, a pro-Musharraf faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, the PML (QA), had 58 seats. Independent and regional parties were likely to swing behind the PML - dubbed the "king's party" for its support for Mr Musharraf - in its efforts to form a coalition government.
But the Mutahidda Majlis-e- Amal (MMA) religious alliance had won 40 seats in the national assembly, compared to just two for its member parties in the 1997 elections. It was likely to become the strongest party in two of the country's four provincial assemblies, in Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
With the MMA parties controlling the levers of power in those provinces, "the task of hunting down the rebellious Taliban and hostile al-Qaeda will become almost impossible", said Najam Sethi, adding they might also start enforcing sharia law practices.
"It is a revolution," the MMA's vice-president, Mr Qazi Hussain Ahmed, told supporters on Thursday. "We will not accept US bases and Western culture."
President Musharraf's main political rivals - Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif - were excluded from the polls, and in their absence their parties performed well below expectations. Both leaders accused the government of rigging the count. Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party had won 40 seats by yesterday afternoon, and Mr Sharif's Muslim League faction 13.
"I have no doubt in my mind the worst kind of rigging is going on," Mr Sharif said by telephone from Medina in Saudi Arabia, saying that pro-government candidates who had admitted defeat on Thursday night were suddenly being declared winners.
"These figures are totally contrary to exit polls," Ms Bhutto said from London.
She claimed her information showed her PPP would have won a narrow majority if the vote count had been fair.- (Reuters)