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MMA man elected chief minister of NWFP

Meanwhile, Punjab saw Choudhary Pervez Elahi of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League, Quaid-e-Azam, becoming the new chief minister.

Durrani, a close confidant of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the MMA, defeated the combined opposition candidate Qalandar Lodhi by a margin of 37 votes.

Elahi bagged 235 votes as against the 102 votes that Pakistan People's Party candidate Qasim Zia secured. About ten dissidents of the PPP voted for Elahi.

Lodhi, jointly fielded by the PML-Q, PPP, and Awami National Party, bagged only 41 votes as against Durrani's 78 in the 124-member NWFP assembly.

The alliance will also try to win the chief minister's seat in neighbouring Balochistan in Saturday's election. Punjab, the biggest of Pakistan's four provinces, is the only one where the PML-Q has formed a secure government. It is struggling to put together the required numbers in both Balochistan and Sindh.