Political bargaining after Senate elections

Islamabad
A new round of political bargaining for the slots of chairman and deputy chairman will start following the Senate elections on Thursday.
Both PML-N and PPP will vie for the two posts on the basis of expected strength and realignments of political forces will take place in which political opponents might become political friends.
PPP hopes that after the Senate elections the opposition could boast of 57 seats in the Upper House and if it remains united it will not be difficult for it to grab the top slots.
PML (N), on the other hand, hopes to capture the top Senate posts with the help of its coalition partners and some in the opposition.
Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah when approached for his comments on the post-Senate election scenario, he was optimistic and hopeful that if the opposition jointly contests the elections of chairman Senate and deputy chairman then it could get both the slots.
Talking to a group of the newsmen at the Parliament House, senior leaders of Awami National Party Senator Afrasiab Khattak and Zahid Khan were of the opinion that it was the first time that horse trading was going on not individually but at the level of the political parties. “Except PML (N) and ANP, all other parties were involved in horse trading,” they said.
The ANP senators said that all the major political parties - PPP, JUI (F) and PTI- have awarded tickets to the influential and rich rather than party workers. “Only ANP has awarded tickets to its workers,” they said.
Senator Zahid Khan said PPP and JUI (F) sabotaged the move for forming a joint forum of opposition to bring consensus candidates from Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.
He said there was a proposal that all the opposition parties including PPP, ANP, JUI (F) and QWP would nominate one member each for four seats but PPP and JUI (F) did not agree.