Senate elections in Pakistan are all set to take place on 3rd March 2021, through a system of proportional representation, as per Article 59 (2) of the Constitution.
Voting in the Senate is done via a Single Transferable Vote System, which means the candidates are ranked in order of preferability on a single ballot by the voters. On the actual voting day, National and Provincial assembly members rank the running candidates according to their first, second and third priority. Once the candidate on first priority gathers all the votes they need, the remaining goes to the candidate on second priority, so on and so forth.
In Pakistan, the Senate comprises 104 members, half of whom retire after every three years and are replaced by new Senators via Senate elections. Candidates must be at least 30 years old or above and serve a total of six years in the Senate.
On February 7, 52 out of 104 members had retired from the Senate, who will be replaced by new Senators in March. However, because the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) had been merged with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, this time, FATA’s four designated seats will not be voted on. Hence, polling will be held for 48 senators.
Read more: Pakistani Senate Elections: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?
There will be 12 senators from Khyber Pakhtunkwa, 12 from Balochistan, 11 from Sindh, 11 from Punjab, and 2 from Islamabad.
Ahmed Janjua, the former Deputy Secretary of Information for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, explained how many votes each candidate requires to be elected, in a series of tweets that follow.
The Maths to determine the exact quota of the vote each candidate should receive is challenging .Punjab For Example,371 electors and each vote is assigned the value of 100.
371x 100 = 37,100
Divide this by the number of vacant (General) seats, 7 (add 1)
=4635— Ahmed Janjua (@AhmedWJanjua) February 15, 2021
Now remove the last two digits and we are left with 46. Add another (1) to it and we will have 47. Which means that each candidate in Punjab must get 47 votes.
Redact as You Please According.
— Ahmed Janjua (@AhmedWJanjua) February 15, 2021
Using the same formula, Required Number of Votes for each Candidate 👇👇
National Assembly 172
Punjab Assembly 47
KP Assembly 19
Sindh Assembly 22
Baluchistan Assembly 9— Ahmed Janjua (@AhmedWJanjua) February 15, 2021
Moreover, there are separate categories for general and special seat candidates, on the ballot paper. Voters are required to note down their preferences on one ballot paper under the general seat category and their preferences for women, technocrats, and minority candidates under the special category separately.
Candidates who gather the most votes, more than the required quotes of votes for the general and the special category gets elected.
Read more: Why or why not an ‘open ballot’: Insights by experts Senate Elections 2021
Candidates for upcoming Senate elections
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday chaired a meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary board to finalize names of candidates for upcoming Senate elections.
Sources claim that the ruling party’s parliamentary board has finalized names of the candidates to be awarded tickets for Senate polls and has sent recommendations to Prime Minister Imran Khan. The parliamentary board of PTI has suggested that Shibli Faraz, Sania Nishtar, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, and Dr. Zarka be awarded Senate tickets.
Name of Federal Minister for Finance Hafeez Sheikh has been shortlisted on technocrat seats, according to sources. The name of PML-Q leader Kamil Ali Agha from coalition parties has also been finalized.
Read more: When did PTI get video of lawmakers receiving bribes before Senate elections 2018?
Speaking to PTI’s parliamentary board members, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that PTI will end the tradition of awarding tickets to feudalists and capitalists. The final approval will be given by the prime minister.
The meeting was attended by three governors and chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The open ballot controversy
Prime Minister Imran Khan and the ruling PTI are trying to establish the principle that senate elections should be held through an open transparent ballot; instead of the secret vote as mandated by the constitution.
As the government has promulgated the presidential ordinance to hold the Senate election through an open ballot, the main opposition parties seem to be ‘angry’. Senior leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz described the government’s move as an attack on parliament and the Constitution and an attempt to pressurize the court that is seized with a presidential reference on the same matter.
According to sources, the decision for introducing the presidential ordinance was taken after the opposition staged a demonstration in the National Assembly and blocked the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill, tabled by the government for holding Senate polls through the open ballot.
Read more: Senate Elections: Yes, I received RS10 million, confesses PTI’s Ubaid Ullah Mayar
The Supreme Court while hearing the presidential reference on the Senate election, summoned the Chief Election Commissioner and the members of the election commission on Tuesday (today).
A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed hearing the presidential reference seeking the court’s advice over the open ballot in the upcoming Senate election.
The court also asked the election commission to present a scheme to get rid of corrupt practices in the election of the upper house.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that only announcement of the schedule is not enough, the election commission would have to devise a polling scheme.
The court will ask the CEC about the steps taken for a fair election, the chief justice said. “It is the responsibility of the election commission to ensure transparency in the election,” Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan said.
Read more: Senate Elections: PPP to oppose government’s proposed constitutional amendment