Pakistan elections: good news from the North West Frontier?

Whilst the heavy defeat of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s party has dominated news coverage of the election results, there is also interesting news from the elections in the North West Frontier.

The secular Pashtun nationalist party, the Awami National Party*, appears to be doing well, defeating several Islamist incumbents. This marks a move away from extremists toward moderate secularists in an area that has been widely characterised as a hot-bed of Islamic terrorism and support for terrorism.

* Their website is rather incongruously currently displaying both the latest election results and a “This site is under construction” sign.