1970-12-18
Page: 2
Groups That Won Nationally Dominate in Contests for Regional Seats
KARACHI, Pakistan, Friday, Dec. 18—A party that seeks full regional al autonomy for East Pakistan and another that pledges a redistribution of wealth along Marxist lines took big leads early today over other political parties and hundreds of independent candidates in elections to five provincial assemblies.
The party that favors East Pakistani autonomy, the Awami League, and the Marxist Pakistan Peoples party, also swept the polls in Pakistan's first election for a National Assembly 10 days ago.
The contest yesterday was for the assemblies of the provinces of Sind, the Punjab, the Northwest Frontier and Baluchistan in West Pakistan, and for the assembly of the province of East Pakistan. The two parts of Pakistan are separated by more than 1,000 miles of Indian territory.
The Awami League captured 86 of the 87 seats whose results had been declared so far in East Pakistan. The East Pakistan Assembly has 300 seats, of which 279 were contested yesterday. Elections in the remaining 21 seats, which are in areas devastated by cyclone last month, will be held next month.
The Pakistan Peoples party captured 44 of the 180 seats in the Punjab and 22 of the 60 in Sind. It was in these two areas that the party had received the largest number of seats in the National Assembly elections.
The Awami League, led by Sheik Mujibur Rahman, won a majority in the National Assembly in the general election that was a step toward moving the country from martial to civilian rule.
The assembly will draft the country's first democratic constitution since Pakistan's inception in 1947. The constitution must be approved by President Yahya Khan.