By Christine F. Herrera

LEADERS of the Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino have agreed to ask the Nationalist People?s Coalition to participate in ongoing merger talks to boost their chances in the 2010 elections.

?The merger has indisputable political, practical, scientific and statistical bases. Should we succeed in establishing the merger of the three parties, the country will see the most formidable and unbeatable political force in its political history,? said Speaker Prospero Nograles, president of Lakas CMD.

Nograles said the Lakas-Kampi coalition had proven that it could win 146 seats in the 238-member House of Representatives. The addition of NPC would bring that total to 172.

Among governors, the three merged parties could win 64 governorships as against 56 if NPC was left out, he said.

As for city mayors, the Lakas-Kampi-NPC merger would have 104 as against only 89 under a Lakas-Kampi merger.

Nograles said there would be a total of 1,232 municipal mayors if the three parties combined forces but only 1,092 in the original Lakas-Kampi merger.

?It does not take a genius to see the compelling logic behind our determination to pursue or push for the merger of the three parties,? Nograles said.

?If we must win the 2010 elections, this is the best way to go. The figures, data and the factual and scientific basis are why there is a necessity of a merger. The numbers do not lie.?

Nograles said he proposed the three-party merger during the Lakas? expanded executive committee meeting in Pampanga last week.

?We must start the process of screening and selecting our official national and local candidates,? said Nograles, who assessed Lakas? strength based on the results of the 2004 elections.

?President Arroyo won in 40 of the 80 provinces . In Cebu, the President got a margin of more than one million votes against her closest rival,? Nograles said.

?In her home province of Pampanga, she edged her opponent by 557,992 votes; in Iloilo, by 500,914 votes; in Negros Occidental, by 249.953 votes; in Bohol, by 242,956 votes; and in Maguindanao, by 113,139 votes,? Nograles said.

?These are the areas where we have proven our strength. We obviously must repeat these victories and redouble our efforts in other areas where we have shown our superiority over the opposition,? he added.

According to presidential adviser on political affairs Gabriel Claudio, the merger would take at least three months to finalize but party leaders were constantly talking about details of the unification.

In the merger, Nograles explained, all three parties would carry a single standard-bearer and field a single senatorial slate that would come from the merged parties.

The top contenders for the presidential nomination of Lakas are Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte, Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, and Vice President Noli de Castro.