Major setback for Pak PM as Gilani wins Senate seat
Former PM Gilani receives 169 votes to Hafeez Sheikh’s 164; PTI’S Fozia takes federal seat for women; PDM leaders celebrate victory; ‘democracy is the best revenge,’ tweets Bilawal
Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday defeated a ruling party candidate in Senate elections in a major setback to the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, election authorities and opposition parties said.
Gilani defeated the ruling Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI) party’s Hafeez Sheikh, an adviser to Imran who was made finance minister in December 2020, an indication he will continue this position ater becoming a Senator.
The National Assembly in which the ruling PTI and its allied parties have majority was the electoral college for the Islamabad seat.
Gilani, fielded by the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) secured 169 votes while Sheikh could manage 164 ballots. Seven votes were declared invalid and were rejected by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Gilani’s success suggests some ruling party lawmakers revolted and did not vote for Sheikh in the election for a key seat reserved for Islamabad.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari had taken upon his shoulders to get Gilani won. He had personally lobbied hard for his win.
Interestingly, PTI’S candidate Fauzia Arshad for sole woman’s seat won routing opposition representative Farzana. The winner got 174 votes while the loser bagged 161 ballots.
This showed that the opposition had prepared to defeat Sheikh only and not the PTI’S female contestant.
A total of 340 votes were polls. One seat is vacant while the Jamaat-e-islami’s one MP boycoted as per the decision of his party.
Votes for Senate, the upper house of parliament, are cast by members of the National Assembly, or the lower house, and four provincial assemblies.
Ater Gilani’s win was announced in the parliament building, Sheikh — who had served as a finance minister during Gilani’s tenure as prime minister in 2010, congratulated Gilani in acknowledgement of his defeat. Results for the Senate’s other seats were still coming in.
The result came hours ater Imran showed up in parliament in person to cast his vote for Sheikh. Imran in the past several days had extensively campaigned for Sheikh.
The Senate elections have been seen as a test for Imran Khan, who came to power in 2018 parliamentary elections. Imran had hoped to improve his standing in the 100-member Senate, where his party had only 15 seats entering the elections.
Until recently, the upper house had 104 seats but four were abolished ater the merger of former northwestern tribal regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In Pakistan, Senate members are elected for six-year terms and as half the senators are due to retire ater three years, elections are required to replace 48 Senators who had completed their terms. However, voting on Wednesday was being held only for 37 seats as other candidates had ran unopposed.
Both chambers of parliament have legislative powers, and any bill passed by the National Assembly must be approved by the Senate before it becomes a law. In turn, any legislations by the Senate goes to the National Assembly, where Khan has a simple majority.
Hours before the announcement of results of the Senate elections, Fawad Chaudhry, minister for science and technology, had predicted an easy win for Sheikh against Gilani.
Quickly ater the announcement of Gilani’s victory, the PDM leaders burst into celebrations and urged Imran to resign. The government said it would challenge the outcome. Its leaders said the government would seek disqualification of Gilani.
Bilawal Bhuto Zardari, who heads the country’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), took to Twiter, saying “democracy is the best revenge.”
Muhammad Zubair, a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz party, also congratulated Gilani, saying his success was the first key step for the ouster of Imran Khan’s government.
Though PTI won the 2018 general election, Imran’s coalition does not have a majority in the Senate, needed to pass key legislation — including legal reforms sought by global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and money laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).