Though the PPP won four of the Six Senate seats to which by-elections were held, the most attention was focused on the election from Islamabad of Yousaf Reza Gilani, who is tipped be the next Senate Chairman when it convenes after the election on April 2. The Islamabad by-election was caused by Mr Gilani’s having won a National Assembly eat on February 9. At that time, it had not been decided even that the PPP was to take the Senate Chairmanship. Mr Gilani is now set to become the only person to become Presiding officer of both Houses of Parliament. This is apart from the fact that he has been Prime Minister. He will probably be the first Senate Chairman for whom this will probably not be an elevation.
One of the more interesting features was that the PTI was unable to participate, because its lack of a symbol meant that it could not put forward any candidates. This may not have been as great a hardship as it seems, for it was unlikely to obtain any seats. However, this will have serious implications for the upcoming election, as the PTI would like to claim all the Senate seats available in KP, as well as about half the seats from Punjab and at least one from Sindh. However, the alternative would either be for the Sunni Ittehad Council to award its candidates tickets, or for them to contest independently, as they did in the general election. The PTI has conducted its elections on March 3 again, and submitted the result to the Election Commission of Pakistan on March 5, but so far has not received any response. If it does not, it will miss out on the Senate seats. Then it might well miss out on the by-elections due to be held on seats vacated by those elected to more than one. It might be remembered that the ECP took away the PTI’s symbol, the ‘bat’, because it had not carried out party elections. The PTI held elections, but they were then rejected by the ECP as not being according to the party constitution. The recent election was held in the light of this ECP decision.
The Senate by-elections also mark a trend for politicians. Apart from Mr Gilani, vacating Senators stepped down to the provincial assembly, including outgoing Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani. However, now the focus of all the parties must be on the coming Senate elections, which should follow party lines in the provincial assemblies.
