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Musharraf’s Party Wins Two Seats

by AFP
AFP

AFP

Despite boycott, the All Pakistan Muslim League wins Chitral.

Supporters of Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former president and Army chief, won two seats in Chitral after flouting a party boycott of the May 11 elections.

The Election Commission of Pakistan announced on its website that Iftikhar Uddin of Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League party won Chitral’s only seat in the National Assembly, and Haji Ghulam Muhammad gained its sole seat in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly.

Musharraf founded APML in 2010. He ended self-exile in March to participate in the May 11 elections, but his nomination papers were rejected in all four constituencies—including Chitral—from where he had hoped to run. He is currently under house arrest in Islamabad over his government’s decision to sack and jail some 60 judges in November 2007.

The APML announced on May 3 that it was boycotting the election, but its candidates in Chitral refused to pull out. APML official Muhammad Amjad welcomed the wins. “It proves the love of people for Musharraf,” he said.

Syeda Afshan Adil, one of Musharraf’s lawyers, said that party leaders in Chitral had protested against the boycott on the grounds that the retired general is popular in the mountain region, partly for building a key tunnel that has eased travel.

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