QUETTA, Feb 19: Despite having been virtually routed in three provinces, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q has emerged as the largest single party in the Balochistan assembly, bagging 17 of 51 seats.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, which had won 12 seats in 2002 and was part of the coalition government led by the PML-Q, could get only seven seats this time.

The PPP made a comeback and won seven seats. It had bagged only two seats in the last election.

Independent candidates secured 11 and emerged as the second largest group in the assembly.

Despite the absence of JUI-F’s arch rival, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, the MMA could not strengthen its position.

The other coalition partner of the PML-Q in the last government, the Balochistan National Party (Awami group), won five seats this time, thanks to the boycott by Baloch nationalist parties.

In the 2002 election, the PML-Q had won 16 provincial seats. It had also won three seats reserved for women and one for minority. Its strength reached 26 after independent candidates joined it to form the coalition government led by Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf.

Although the PML-Q has retained most of its seats, its three former ministers and an MPA from Noshki have been defeated.

Before the polls, the PML-Q provincial leadership had claimed that they would win 32 to 36 seats and form the government in the province without the support of any other party.

Sources said that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had also claimed that it would get more seats, but differences in the party leadership badly affected its performance and its many heavyweights lost their seats.

The PPP surprised many political observers who were expecting the party to win only two to three seats in the province. It won four of Quetta’s six seats.

Another important outcome is that the Awami National Party (ANP) has won two provincial assembly seats this time. It was for the first time since the 1970 election that the ANP has won seats in Balochistan. In 1970, it had emerged as the majority party and formed its government headed by Sardar Ataullah Mengal.

Although the National Party has boycotted the election, its senior vice-president Sardar Sanaullah Zehri contested and formed his own group. He won a seat in the provincial assembly.