The Politics of Electoral Alliances in Pakistan: A Case Study of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, Pakistan (MMAP)

Political parties in a multi-party system either form a pre-electoral alliance to contest the election from a single platform under a single election symbol or, contest the election independently or constitute a post-electoral alliance to establish a coalition government afterwards. The religious political parties soon after the birth of Pakistan showed a unique sense of solidarity in their ranks and files to convert the nascent state of Pakistan into an Islamic state. Unfortunately, during the electoral history of Pakistan (1970–1997), these parties, for one reason or another, failed to constitute a viable electoral alliance. The incident of 9/11 and the subsequent American attack on Afghanistan brought six religious political parties close to each other in the form of the Pakistan-Afghan Defence Council (PADC), and later on, the PADC was converted into an electoral alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. These parties contested the general election of 2002 under the umbrella of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, with Book as an electoral symbol. This research paper describes and analyses the factors that led to the formation of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. This paper also investigates the factors responsible for the victory of the MMA in the general elections of 2002.