Lets do lunch
Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif met for lunch yesterday at Sharif's home outside of Lahore, their second lunch date this week. My impression is that there will be a coalition PPP - PML-N majority, two of the four possible post-election outcomes. Vote-rigging blocked their parties from obtaining a majority in the 2002 elections, and the PML-Q (pro-Mushy) "won" and held power until 2007, until replaced by a "caretaker" government. A repeat of the 2002 vote-rig covers the other two possible post-election outcomes.
There were bombings and shootings during the day yesterday, the largest was the bombing of a PPP rally at a candidate's home in Parachinar in the Kurram tribal agency (in the NWFP), wounding 90 and killing 40. Both the PPP and the PML-N canceled their final events in Lahore, advantage PML-Q, which oddly benefits from every breakdown in security for its electoral rivals.
