The Senate election

For now, our tentative democracy has retained its hold, as elections for Senate seats did indeed take place on schedule, defying all the speculation and rumours that they would be called off. However small, this in itself is an achievement. Sadly, in the wake of voting by members of the provincial and national assemblies, there has been a flurry of allegations stating that horse-trading played a big part in ensuring success for some candidates.

Replacing the PPP as the largest party in the Senate is the PML-N, its preferred candidates winning the expected 15 seats – despite the setback delivered by the controversial judicial decision to make nominees of the most mainstream party in the country contest as independents. The election results are heartening for the PML-N also because the party had suffered a major setback in Balochistan after the fall of its government there a few weeks ago. In what some may not find that surprising – considering pre-election rumours – the PPP made gains, despite losing its overall majority in the Senate, and managed to secure 12 seats. There is also talk that the party may get the support of some independent candidates from Balochistan as well. In what has been a surprise, the PTI’s candidate Chaudhry Sarwar obtained 44 votes from Punjab. With the party having only 30 MPAs in the province, there has been inevitable debate over why and how of the additional votes. Sindh saw the PPP almost completely routing out the MQM. The party, which holds second place in the Sindh Assembly, was able to vote in only one senator, Farogh Naseem. The MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar has alleged massive rigging by the PPP, while the PPP says divisions within the MQM were to blame. For the future of Sindh politics, the Senate election results may be significant. In good news, Maulana Samiul Haq of the JUI-S lost while two progressive additions to the Upper House – Anwar Lal Dean and Krishna Kohli, both nominated by the PPP and both from lower-income backgrounds – won seats reserved for minorities and women.

In short, the PML-N has defied gleeful rumours that it is on the verge of falling apart – for now. The party now has a total of 33 seats in the Upper House. With allies, its total comes to 48 seats. The PPP, down six seats, has a total of 21 seats. The party’s total adds up to 40 seats in the Upper House with its allies. The PTI’s presence in the Senate comes to 12 seats. What comes next is the race to get Senate chair and deputy chair elected. No doubt, we will continue to see bickering and a back and forth of post-election allegations. However, what we need now is focus towards how our fragile democracy acts next. Till now, the major political parties have failed to fight together. They must now stand together as the time approaches to elect an interim prime minister and in a mature manner prepare for the 2018 General Election which will lie at the centre of democracy and politics in the country for the next five years.