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News Analysis: Pakistan's ruling PML-N party strengthens grip in parliament's upper house

Xinhua, March 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Pakistan's ruling party has strengthened its position in the Senate following Thursday's elections for half of the vacant seats in the upper house of the parliament.

The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had a clear majority in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament and it now has a comfortable position in the upper house.

The PML-N previously had only 16 seats in the 204-member Senate, but the number has now increased to 26 after the party won more seats after voting for new senators. The main opposition Pakistan Peoples Party of former President Asif Ali Zardari previously had 40 senators in the house but its members decreased to 27.

Although the PML-N is still one vote behind the PPP in the numbers game, it has now started consultations to win the support of the independent senators to emerge as the single largest party. There are eight independent senators in the house, who traditionally support the government in legislation and other business.

In spite of almost a two-third majority of the PML-N and its allied parties in the National Assembly, it had only 16 members in the Senate and had faced opposition to approve some legislation.

The PML-N grabbed all the available Senate seats in central Punjab province, its stronghold, and the federal capital of Islamabad. All four provinces of Pakistan have equal representation in the Senate.

Political activities are now picking up as the PML-N and the opposition parties will fight for the position of the Senate chairman. The incumbent chairman, Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukahri, who belongs to the PPP, will also retire on March 11 and the house will elect a new leader.

A senior PML-N leader, senator Mushahidullah Khan, is confident that his party and its allies will be successful in getting their nominee elected as chairman. On the other hand the PPP is also convinced over the number of seats its holds with its allies in the house.

The ethnic Urdu-speaking Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is the third largest party with eight seats in the house. The MQM had been a coalition partner of the PPP in the southern Sindh province but had later parted ways with the latter over serious differences. The PPP has been involved in consultations with the MQM in recent week to convince it to rejoin the government in Sindh.

Elections were scheduled to be held for 52 seats; however, the Election Commission of Pakistan postponed polling for the four senators from the tribal areas because of some legal complications in the voting system.

The other important aspect of the Senate election was the debut of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) or Justice Movement in the Senate. The party is led by the cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, who is critical for the PML-N and the PPP.

Khan's PTI party won seven seats in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The four provincial assemblies and the National Assembly are the Electoral College for Senate elections. Endi