PESHAWAR: Being in power means getting a lot more votes in Pakistan and this is what happened once again on Saturday when the ruling PPP swept the presidential election at the Centre and in Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan and so did the PML-N in its Punjab stronghold.

The PML-N could have lost in the Punjab if it wasn't in power there. As the dominant ruling party in a provincial coalition with the PPP that is at the breaking-point, the PML-N had the power and the goodies to offer to the PML-Q MPAs and others to stay by its side and vote for its candidate, former chief justice of Pakistan Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui. By getting those majority votes for its candidate, the PML-N proved its strength in the Punjab Assembly.

With that kind of support in the Punjab, it won't be easy for the PPP to bring a no-confidence vote against Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and oust him from the office.The PML-Q, no longer in power and deprived of the patronage Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, had nothing to offer to even its own legislators.

Other parties knew the worth of the former king's party, whose downslide became even more obvious during the election for the president. Despite being a capable presidential candidate, Mushahid Hussain Sayed was in no position to stop some of his own party members from voting for his rival contestants.

The PPP won hands down at the Centre and in the three smaller provinces because it had something to offer to the allied parties, pressure groups and independents. As the ruling party at the federal level, it can accommodate political parties wanting berths in the cabinet and seeking positions for their favourite civil servants and police officers.

The MQM, which ditched Musharraf when it became clear that he was on the way out, would now walk into the federal cabinet and take its pick among the portfolios vacated by the PML-N ministers.

The ANP, the JUI-F and the PML-F too could get slots in the federal cabinet and better representation in the power-sharing arrangements. The parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) who were threatening not to vote for Asif Ali Zardari and instead abstain from the polling predictably fell in line in the end and dutifully voted for him.

Though Zardari and the PPP-led government promised not to carry out further military operations in Fata and try to resolve the conflict in tribal areas through political means, it won't be easy to fulfil the promise keeping in view the ground realities and the constant pressure by the US and its allies on Pakistan to "do more" in the so-called "war on terror."

The government could always wriggle out of this promise by arguing that the militants were violating peace accords and cannot be trusted as partners in any peaceful political process for ending the conflict in the tribal region.

Smaller political parties, regional groups and independents in Pakistan generally side with the ruling party in a bid to advance their political agenda and for getting a share in power. There is no use in staying in the opposition in a system of governance in which ruling parties enjoy all perks of power and political opponents are victimised or denied authority.

Pressure groups such as the 20 tribal MNAs and senators from Fata also indulge in bargaining so that they are adequately empowered. The tribal parliamentarians don't have the kind of political clout which their counterparts in rest of the country enjoy due to the unique status of Fata where political agents and the military, particularly 9/11 onwards, call the shots.

They got the opportunity in the presidential poll to exploit the importance of their vote and win some concessions from President-elect Zardari and the PPP government. Such opportunities are rare and Munir Orakzai, parliamentary leader of the Fata bloc, made the right noises before the presidential election to force the powers-that-be to take notice and make a bid for getting his vote and that of other tribal parliamentarians.