LAHORE, Dec 30: Parties abstaining from the voting at the time of confidence vote for President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Jan 1 will, by implication, be facilitating the ruling coalition to win what is being called a single horse race.

PML-Q Senator S.M. Zafar, who played the key role in resolving the LFO controversy by winning the MMA’s support for the 17th Constitutional Amendment, told Dawn on Tuesday that votes polled in favour and against Gen Musharraf in the Senate, the National Assembly and the four provincial legislatures would be counted and the president would be deemed to have won in case the positive votes outnumbered the negative ones.

He made it clear that majority would not mean majority of the total membership of all houses. Instead, he said, it would mean majority of all votes cast, whether in favour or against Gen Musharraf. Those who would not be present in the house at the time of voting or those who would not exercise their right to vote would not be counted, he explained.

It would be a contest between those who vote for the general or against him, Senator Zafar said.

Apparently, the PML-Q and the MMA have divergent views on what the “majority of votes” would mean.

Contrary to what Senator S.M. Zafar asserts, MMA deputy secretary-general Liaquat Baloch says that for the religious parties alliance the majority would mean majority of the “total membership” of all houses. In other words, 51 per cent or 636 of the 1271 members of all houses.

The Senate has 100 seats, the National Assembly 342, the Punjab Assembly 372, the Sindh Assembly 168, the NWFP Assembly 124 and the Balochistan Assembly 65.

Interestingly, despite lending support to the ruling party in the passage of the 17th amendment, the MMA leaders say that they will not vote for Gen Musharraf on account of differences on his policies. They say that they will abstain from the voting process, a step which will be helpful to the government. The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy will take a decision on the issue on the day of voting. Alliance vice-president Begum Tehmina Daultana said on Tuesday that the ARD leaders would meet on Thursday morning to discuss the matter and take a decision.

So far, she said, no alliance leader was in a position to say whether the ARD would abstain from voting or vote against Gen Musharraf.

She made it clear that the PPP and the PML-N were allies and would take a collective decision on the subject.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is hosting a dinner for the ruling coalition legislators on Wednesday night. This is part of the strategy to keep all supporters of Gen Musharraf together.

The chief minister has also issued necessary instuctions to his cabinet colleagues, parliamentary secretaries and other important leaders to use their influence to muster maximum support for the president.

Similar exercises are also being carried out in other provinces and at the centre.