Peshawar: With the Awami National Party (ANP) emerging as the single largest party in the North West frontier Province (NWFP) Assembly, the focus has shifted to its likely candidate for the office of the next chief minister.
There is no automatic choice for the coveted job as the party lacks a towering figure among its more than 30 MPAs elected in Monday's elections.
Someone equal to the task would have to be found among these lawmakers or someone unelected enjoying the trust of the party leadership would have to be drafted for the job and his election as member of provincial assembly (MPA) secured in by-election.
The second option will not be easy as it could annoy aspirants for the job who are already MPAs. Also winning bypoll would become difficult if other parties joined hands against the ANP.
On quite a few occasions in the past, the ANP gave up its claims to the chief minister's job despite having the most or significant number of provincial assembly seats and instead offered it to its coalition partners.
Though ANP president Asfandyar Wali Khan has staked claim for forming the government in the NWFP after winning the highest number of seats in the elections, it is still possible that the PPP by forming government at the Centre is able to demand from the ANP the chief minister's office for its nominee in the NWFP.
