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Pro-Musharraf parties surge ahead in Pakistan poll

ISLAMABAD, Friday (AFP) The chief pro-government party took a massive lead in vote counting Friday in Pakistan's general elections, blazing ahead of secular opposition parties with 54 seats of around 168 counted.

Counting also showed breathtaking gains by Islamic fundamentalist parties, with an unprecedented sweep of the country's western border areas giving them 12.5 percent of 272 national seats and poised to hold the balance of power in the future parliament.

State-run Pakistan Television said the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic parties, had secured 34 seats, mostly in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan, both bordering Afghanistan.

MMA has also secured one of two seats in the capital Islamabad.The Islamic parties, contesting for the first time as an alliance, only won four of 201 federal seats at the last legislative elections in 1997.

The opposition Pakistan People's Party of self-exiled ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, banned from the elections, had secured 39 seats.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of deposed ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, also in exile and barred from contesting, had won 12 seats.

Cricket legend Imran Khan scored his first election victory, winning his home seat of Mianwali, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Islamabad in Punjab province. His Tehreek-i-Insaf (Justice Movement) party, founded in 1996, was unlikely to pick up any other seats.

Independent candidates have won 22 seats, including Maulana Azam Tariq, the jailed leader of the outlawed Islamic extremist organisation Sipah-e-Sahaba.Sipah-e-Sahaba was one of five extremists outfits banned by President Pervez Musharraf in January.

Votes were still being counted more than 24 hours after polling closed Thursday. Results from the 272 national constituencies have been rolling in since midnight The election commission said the count was slower than ususal because of the increase in seats since the 1997 elections and demands by party agents for manual checking.

Another 70 seats reserved for women and non-Muslim minorities will be decided next week.

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