Zardari holds key to Senate top slots

• PPP emerges as majority party in Senate with 27 members closely followed by ruling PML-N which has 26 members
• PPP and its allies have support of 48 members, only five short of obtaining simple majority in Senate

With the completion of first phase of Senate elections, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership has opened political channels with leaders of smaller political parties in the Upper House of Parliament seeking support for its candidates for the top slots in Senate.

The PPP has emerged as the majority party in the Senate with 27 members, closely followed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which has 26 members. The strength of the PML-N may suffer a jolt as a sword hangs over the fate of PML-N’s two newly-elected senators from Islamabad as the Islamabad High Court has directed the Election Commission not to notify the victory of Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Rahila Magsi until their eligibility case is decided.

THE NUMBER-GAME IN SENATE:

After the completion of first phase of Senate polls, the PPP and its allied parties have emerged strong contenders for the two top slots.

Though election was suspended for four members of Senate from FATA, the PPP along with its allies have support of 48 members – only five short of a simple majority in Senate. The PPP now has 27 members while its ally MQM has support of eight members. The ANP has also got seven votes in the Upper House while PML-Q and BNP-Awami have four and two members, respectively.

The tally may cross the number of simple majority if PPP chief Asif Zardari could win support of JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman, who is annoyed with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the passage of the 21st Constitutional Amendment Act “without taking him into confidence”. However, since Fazl can’t stay away from the power corridors, it would be hard to predict if he joins the PPP, which would mean he would have to sacrifice two federal ministries.

The PML-N has 26 votes in Senate while its allies JUI-F, National Party, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) have five and three members each, respectively. BNP-Mengal also has one member like PML-Functional. This takes the total to 39 votes – well short of the simple majority of 53 votes. Even if the four senators due to be elected from FATA also support the ruling coalition, the alliance may garner support of 43 members. Again the PML-N would need another 10 members to clinch the top Senate slots.

Six members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and one member of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) may form an independent opposition as it is unlikely that they would side with either the PPP or PML-N.

Sources in the ruling party said that the leadership was in shock following the election results in Balochistan where at least three of its candidates had faced an upset defeat.

“The PML-N leadership has contacted the PPP chief, offering him to mutually decide the power sharing deal for Senate’s top slots. Otherwise, the PML-N leaders believe that the smaller parties would be in a better position to dictate terms on their major coalition partners,” the source said, adding that the government had offered PPP the deputy chairman’s slot while keeping the chairman’s slot for itself.

“Asif Zardari has politely turned down the proposal because he would like to keep the PML-N government remain hostage to PPP in Senate,” the source added.

Independent senator-elect from Balochistan Yousuf Badini spoke to Zardari on Friday and assured his full cooperation to the PPP. Zardari thanked Badini for his support, as sources said that the chairman’s position would likely be given to a candidate from Balochistan this time.