Benazir's party routed in her native Sindh province

Former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) suffered shock defeats in a majority of the rural districts of Sindh in the third and final round of local bodies elections held a day earlier, officials said.

Out of the 22 districts in the interior of Sindh, the PPP lost in 20 districts including Larkana, the hometown of the Bhuttos.

The only district where the PPP won was Jamshoro, while in Nawabshah its electoral contest with the ruling coalition-backed candidate ended in a tie.

"The stage was already set for such a result," said Jameel Soomro, a PPP spokesman in Karachi.

"The government managed to get the councillors it backed elected through manipulation and rigging in first two rounds held on August 18 and 25," he said. "October 6 elections were just a formality."

In the third round of elections, an electoral college comprising councilors elected the mayor, or nazim, of each district. In Sindh's 23rd district of Karachi, the PPP managed to win in only one suburb.

It even lost elections in Lyari, its power base, where dissident candidate Malik Fayyaz defeated the party candidate. This is the first time since its formation the PPP has done so poorly in an election.

KARACHI
Mustafa Kamal declared mayor

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)-backed candidate Mustafa Kamal was elected mayor of Karachi, defeating the Jamaat-e-Islami-backed candidate by a huge margin.

Kamal secured 1,493 votes against rival Naimatullah Khan's 800, according to the unofficial results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

An electoral college comprising 2,314 elected the new Karachi nazim in a peaceful election.

The pro-President Pervez Musharraf MQM routed the Islamic party winning in 16 out of the 18 suburbs of the city.