Yes, it looks like democracy has been resurrected in Pakistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...
Pakistanis dealt a crushing defeat to President Pervez Musharraf in parliamentary elections on Monday, in what government and opposition politicians said was a firm rejection of his policies since 2001 and those of his close ally, the United States.
More below the fold.
From unofficial results the private news channel, Aaj Television, forecast that the Pakistan Peoples Party would win 110 seats in the 272-seat National Assembly, with Mr. Sharif’s party taking 100 seats.
This is very important - if the opposition parties win more than 2/3rd of the seats (182/272) they can impeach President Musharraf. And yes, unlike the spineless dems, they will do just that once the election is over.
It is also interesting that PPP of Benazir Bhutto is only slightly ahead of PML(Sharif). Ofcourse the fact that the elections were postponed has something to do with that - the reason why PPP leaders like the Zardari Bhutto's husband didn't want the elections postponed. Still it shows that PML(S) still controls Punjab.
Mr. Musharraf’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, was crushed, holding on to just 20 to 30 seats. Early results released by the state news agency, The Associated Press of Pakistan, also showed the Pakistan Peoples Party to be leading in the number of seats won.
That is quite damning - just 10% of seats for the King's party. For those who are unfamiliar with multi-party parliamentary democracies, it is not uncommon for parties to get wiped out when faced with an angry electorate. Ofcourse, in this case we know the King's party had little popular support ...
I hope they form a coalition government including PPP and PML(S) - that will bring much needed stability and modernity to Pakistan. Musharraf can then be consigned to the dustbin - just like all his predecessor dictators - where is rightly belongs.