2018 Pakistani Senate election

2018 Pakistani Senate election

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52 of the 104 seats in the Senate of Pakistan 53 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Raja Zafar-ul-Haq Sherry Rehman Azam Swati Party PML(N) PPP PTI Leader's seat Technocrat Punjab General Sindh Technocrat KP Last election 26 27 9 Seats won 33 20 15 Seat change 7 7 6
Chairman before election Raza Rabbani PPP Elected Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani BAP

The triennial Senate Electionsof Pakistan were held on 3 March 2018 to replace 52 retiring senators - half of the Senate's strength - with the winning candidates serving six-year terms. ^[1] Overall, Pakistan Muslim League (N) came out as the largest party, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. ^[2] The results of these elections were steeped in controversy due to rampant allegations of horse trading and vote-buying, which lead to the Prime Minister and opposition leader Imran Khan calling for reforms. ^{[3] [4] [5]} Prior to this election, PML (N) candidates were declared as independents by the Election Commission of Pakistan owing to a Supreme Court judgment. ^[6]

Elections for the chairmanship and deputy chairmanship of the senate were held on 12 March 2018. Both posts were won by joint opposition's candidates with Sadiq Sanjrani and Saleem Mandviwalla being elected chairman and deputy chairman, respectively. ^[7]

Background

The Senate of Pakistan is the upper house of the Parliament of Pakistan. It consists of 104 senators with each senator serving a 6-year term. The elections are conducted triennially for half the seats in the senate. This staggered nature of the terms means that at any given time senators from two different elections are serving in the Senate. ^[8]

The 2018 elections were conducted on 3 March 2018 to replace the senators elected during the 2012 elections. The electoral process is based on an indirect single transferable vote. This is in contrast to the methodology of direct first-past-the-post voting used in all other parliamentary elections in the country. Thus, effectively, the senators in Pakistan are voted for by serving members of the country's National and Provincial Assemblies and not the public. ^[8] This reduction in electorate, the transferable nature of the vote, and secrecy of the ballot have resulted in the senate elections in the country being almost always marred by allegations of vote trading. ^{[9] [10] [11] [12]}

In terms of seats, there is a fixed representation of each of the country's administrative units in the senate, apart from the disputed territories of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. There are 23 seats from each province, 8 from Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and 4 from the capital region of Islamabad. In a given election, half of these seats are contested. Due to the odd nature of the number of seats from the provinces, each election cycle sees two provinces elect all 12 representatives, while the remaining two elect 11. ^{[8] [13]}

This year's elections took place in an environment of uncertainty as one of the electing houses, the Balochistan Assembly, saw an in-house change, ^[14] the lower house's speaker, Ayaz Sadiq, voiced concerns that 'hidden elements' might not let the current government complete its term, ^{[15] [16]} and the candidacy of PML-N candidates was stripped mere days before the election. Further still, in the lead up to the elections, the ruling PML-N was of the opinion that the provincial assemblies in which it is not in power, namely, Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, might be prematurely dissolved to postpone the senate elections until after the general elections. ^{[17] [18]}

Candidacy of PML-N Nominees

On 28 July 2017, the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding public office. Following this, the Elections Act 2017 was passed, which allowed Sharif to serve as party head despite being disqualified. ^[19] However, in a later judgement passed by the Supreme Court on 21 February 2018, Sharif was disqualified from holding office as party president. In this judgement, all decisions taken by Sharif during his tenure as party president were declared null and void, including Senate tickets which he had signed himself. ^[20] To prevent delay in Senate elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan declared all PML(N) candidates as Independents. ^[6]

Voting

Voting is conducted on the basis of single transferable vote where a voter prioritizes their vote among a list of candidates. First priority votes are given the highest weightage and carry 100 points. The Election Commission of Pakistan establishes the criterion for the minimum number of points required to attain a senate seat. During the first count, when a candidate breaches that criterion, they are declared a winner for the seat. Any surplus points they have are divided among other preferences in successive iteration(s). Similarly, a candidate who falls well short of this criterion during the first count has their points transferred among other preferences in subsequent count(s). This whole exercise is repeated iteratively until all vacant seats are filled. ^[13]

It is pertinent to mention that the points system is only used for senators to be elected from general, women, and technocrat seats in provincial assemblies. For senators who are elected from the National Assembly or are running for a minority/non-Muslim seat in the provinces, only a vote count is used. ^[13]

In a typical election, a total of 52 seats are contested. Of which 33 are general seats (7 from each province, 4 from FATA, and 1 from Islamabad), 9 are technocrat seats (2 from each province, and 1 from Islamabad), 8 are women seats (2 apiece from each province), and 2 are minority seats (1 each from 2 provinces). ^[13]

Voting Requirements

The following table outlines the voting requirements in the current senate elections. The Minimum Votes Required column only considers first priority votes:

General Seats

Administrative Unit	Elections Conducted at	Points Required	Minimum Votes Required
Punjab	Provincial Assembly	4563 [21]	46
Sindh	Provincial Assembly	1838 [22]	19
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	Provincial Assembly	1476 [23]	15
Balochistan	Provincial Assembly	788 [24]	8
FATA	National Assembly †	N/A	7 [25]
ICT	National Assembly	N/A	146 [26]

^†Only members from FATA are eligible to vote.

Technocrat Seats

Administrative Unit	Elections Conducted at	Points Required	Minimum Votes Required
Punjab	Provincial Assembly	12067 [21]	121
Sindh	Provincial Assembly	5001 [22]	51
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	Provincial Assembly	4001 [23]	41
Balochistan	Provincial Assembly	2134 [24]	22
ICT	National Assembly	N/A	144 [26]

Women Seats

Administrative Unit	Elections Conducted at	Points Required	Minimum Votes Required
Punjab	Provincial Assembly	12067 [21]	121
Sindh	Provincial Assembly	5001 [22]	51
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	Provincial Assembly	4001 [23]	41
Balochistan	Provincial Assembly	2134 [24]	22

Minority Seats^‡

Administrative Unit	Elections Conducted at	Minimum Votes Required
Punjab	Provincial Assembly	179 [21]
Sindh	Provincial Assembly	75 [22]

^‡Minority Seats are filled for only 2 provinces in a given election. This way the elections for these seats alternate between Punjab/Sindh and Balochistan/KPK.

Candidates

A total of 131 candidates were in the run for the 52 seats. 33 from Sindh, 26 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 24 from FATA, 23 from Balochistan, 20 from Punjab, and 5 from Islamabad. ^[27]

Candidates by Administrative Unit

Punjab ^[28]

Seat Type	Candidate	Party
General	Asif Kirmani	PML-N
	Mehmoodul Hassan	PML-N
	Rana Maqbool	PML-N
	Zubair Gul	PML-N
	Shaheen Butt	PML-N
	Musadik Malik	PML-N
	Haroon Khan	PML-N
	Kamil Ali Agha	PML-Q
	Shahzad Khan	PPP
	Chaudhry Sarwar	PTI
Technocrat	Naseer Bhutta	PML-N
	Hafiz Abdul Kareem	PML-N
	Ishaq Dar	PML-N
	Nawazish Pirzada	PPP
	Asif Javaid	PTI
Women	Saadia Abbasi	PML-N
	Nuzhat Sadiq	PML-N
	Andaleeb Abbas	PTI
Minority	Kamran Michael	PML-N
	Victor Azariah	PTI

Sindh ^[29]

Seat Type	Candidate	Party
General	Ahmed Chinoy	MQM
	Amin-ul-Haq	MQM
	Amir Chishti	MQM
	Farhan Chishti	MQM
	Farogh Naseem	MQM
	Kamran Tessori	MQM
	Muzaffar Hussain	PML-F
	Sarfaraz Jatoi	PML-N
	Imamuddin Shouqeen	PPP
	Ayaz Mehar	PPP
	Ali Shah Jamot	PPP
	Murtaza Wahab	PPP
	Mustafa Khokhar	PPP
	Moula Bux Chandio	PPP
	Raza Rabbani	PPP
	Anis Ahmed Khan	PSP
	Sagheer Ahmed	PSP
	Mubashir Imam	PSP
Technocrat	Hasan Feroz	MQM
	Abdul Kadir Khanzada	MQM
	Ali Raza Abidi	MQM
	Sikandar Mandhro	PPP
	Rukhsana Zuberi	PPP
	Najeeb Haroon	PTI
Women	Nikhat Shakeel	MQM
	Kishwer Zehra	MQM
	Nasreen Jalil	MQM
	Mangla Sharma	MQM
	Qurutulain Marri	PPP
	Keshoo Bai	PPP
Minority	Sanjay Perwani	MQM
	Anwar Lal Deen	PPP
	Mohan Manjiani	PSP

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ^[30]

Seat Type	Candidate	Party
General	Masood Abbas	ANP
	Mushtaq Ahmed	JI
	Gul Naseeb Khan	JUI-F
	Talha Mahmood	JUI-F
	Pir Sabir Shah	PML-N
	Ali Afzal Jadoon	PML-N
	Bahramand Tangi	PPP
	Faisal Sakhi Butt	PPP
	Khial Zaman	PTI
	Abdul Latif Yousafzai	PTI
	Fida Muhammad	PTI
	Faisal Javed	PTI
	Muhammad Ayub	PTI
	Muhammad Ghufran	QWP
Technocrat	Yaqoob Sheikh	JUI-F
	Sami-ul-Haq	Independent
	Dilawar Khan	PML-N
	Nisar Khan	PML-N
	Azam Swati	PTI
Women	Shagufta Malik	ANP
	Naeema Kishwar	JUI-F
	Sobia Shahid	PML-N
	Raeesa Daud	PML-N
	Rubina Khalid	PPP
	Mehr Taj Roghani	PTI
	Naureen Farooq	PTI
	Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli	QWP

Balochistan ^[31]

Seat Type	Candidate	Party
General	Nizam-ud-Din Kakkar	ANP
	Hamayun Kurd	BNP-M
	Ahmed Khan	Independent
	Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar	Independent
	Hussain Islam	Independent
	Allauddin	Independent
	Fateh Baloch	Independent
	Kauda Babar	Independent
	Sadiq Sanjrani	Independent
	Abdul Qadir	Independent
	Muhammad Akram	NP
	Faiz Muhammad	JUI-F
	Shafeeq Tareen	PKMAP
	Amir Afzal Khan	PML-N
	Yousaf Kakar	PML-N
	Naseebullah Bazai	Independent
Technocrat	Kamran Murtaza	JUI-F
	Tahir Bizenjo	NP
	Abdul Manaf Tareen	PML-N
Women	Sana Jamali	Independent
	Shama Magsi	Independent
	Azra Syed	JUI-F
	Tahir Khursheed	NP
	Abida Azeem	PKMAP
	Samina Zehri	PML-N

FATA ^[32]

Seat Type	Candidate	Party
General	Aqal Shah	Independent
	Said Jamal	Independent
	Haji Khan	Independent
	Sajid Turi	Independent
	Ghazi Ghazan Jamal	Independent
	Shah Khalid	Independent
	Shahid Hussain	Independent
	Shoaib Hassan	Independent
	Shammim Afridi	Independent
	Saleh Sarwar	Independent
	Zia-ur-Rehman	Independent
	Tahir Iqbal	Independent
	Abdul Raziq	Independent
	Faiz-ur-Rehman	Independent
	Mirza Afridi	Independent
	Afzal Din Khan	Independent
	Najamul Hassan	Independent
	Nizam Uddin Khan	Independent
	Hidayat Ullah	Independent
	Hillal-ur-Rehman	Independent
	Jangriz Khan	PPP
	Akhunzada Chattan	PPP
	Shahban Ali	PPP
	Farhad Shabab	PPP

ICT ^[33]

Seat Type	Candidate	Party
General	Asad Junejo	PML-N
	Atif Fazal	PML-N
	Imran Ashraf	PPP
	Kanwa Shauzab	PTI
Technocrat	Mushahid Hussain	PML-N
	Shakil Abbasi	PPP

Results

Summary

Overall, PML (N) backed Independents won the most seats, securing 15 of the 52 seats up for election. 11 of these seats were from Punjab, 2 of them from Islamabad and 2 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. ^[34] The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) closely trailed behind, securing 12 of the 52 seats. Of these, 10 were won in Sindh and 2 were won in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. ^[34] Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured 6 seats of which 5 came from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one from Punjab. ^[34]

The strong performance of the PPP raised many eyebrows and led to allegations of 'horse trading' by the party. Noting that MQM, despite having 52 MPAs in the Sindh Assembly, only managed to secure one senator, whilst the PPP managed to secure two senators - including one on the women's seat - from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with only 7 MPAs. ^{[35] [36] [37]}

Another surprise win was by Chaudhry Sarwar of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf from a general seat in Punjab who gained 44 first priority and 2 second priority votes - the most in the assembly this election. ^[21] This was a surprise because the result came about despite the PTI-PML (Q) alliance only having 38 votes. ^[38] This indicated that Sarwar had also been voted for by members of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Peoples Party. ^[39]

Finally, on a Women seat from Sindh, Krishna Kolhi of the PPP became the first Dalit to be elected to the Senate of Pakistan. ^{[40] [41] [42]}

Results by Administrative Units

NOTE: All PML-N candidates officially ran as Independents

Provinces

Punjab
Seat Type	Winners
General	Asif Kirmani (PML-N)	Shaheen Butt (PML-N)	Haroon Khan (PML-N)	Musadik Malik (PML-N)	Rana Maqbool (PML-N)	Mehmoodul Hassan (PML-N)	Chaudhry Sarwar (PTI)
Technocrat	Ishaq Dar (PML-N)			Hafiz Abdul Karim (PML-N)
Women	Saadia Abbasi (PML-N)				Nuzhat Sadiq (PML-N)
Minority	Kamran Micheal (PML-N)

Sindh
Seat Type	Winners
General	Raza Rabbani (PPP)	Bux Chandio (PPP)	Ali Shah Jamote (PPP)	Mustafa Nawaz Khokar (PPP)	Sikandar Menghro (PPP)	Farogh Naseem (MQM)	Muzaffar Hussain (PML-F)
Technocrat	Rukhsana Zubairi (PPP)			Sikander Mandhro (PPP)
Women	Qurultain Marri (PPP)				Krishna Kolhi (PPP)
Minority	Anwar Laal Dean (PPP)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Seat Type	Winners
General	Faisal Javed (PTI)	Muhammad Ayub (PTI)	Fida Muhammad (PTI)	Pir Sabir Shah (PML-N)	Bahramand Tangi (PPP)	Talha Mahmood (JUI-F)	Mushtaq Ahmed (JI)
Technocrat	Azam Swati (PTI)			Dilawar Khan (PML-N)
Women	Meher Tag Roghani (PTI)				Robina Khalid (PPP)

Balochistan
Seat Type	Winners
General	Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar (Independent)	Ahmed Khan (Independent)	Khuda Babar (Independent)	Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani (Independent)	Muhammad Shafiq Tareen (PkMAP)	Faiz Muhammad (JUI-F)	Muhammad Akram (NP)
Technocrat	Naseebullah Bazai (Independent)			Tahir Bizenjo (NP)
Women	Sana Jamali (Independent)				Abida Umar (PkMAP)

Federally Administered Units

NOTE: FATA only has general seats, while Islamabad has 1 general and 1 technocrat seat that were up in this election.

FATA
Seat Type	Winners
General	Shammim Afridi (Independent)	Mirza Muhammad Afridi (Independent)	Hidayat Ullah (Independent)	Hillal ur Rehman (Independent)

ICT
Seat Type	Winners
General	Asad Junejo (PML-N)
Technocrat	Mushahid Hussain (PML-N)

Election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman

After the winning candidates have been notified by the Election Commission, there is a one-week delay until they take oath. During that time, retiring senators make their farewell speeches ^{[43] [44] [45]} and any objections on the successful candidates is handled. ^[46] After this time has lapsed, the reconstituted senate elects their Chairman and Deputy Chairman by a simple majority via a secret ballot. ^[47]

Candidates and Results

Two candidates apiece, from the opposition and treasury benches, contested the elections on 12 March 2018. ^[48] Joint opposition's candidates, Sadiq Sanjrani and Saleem Mandviwalla, won the elections for their respective seats. ^{[7] [49]}

Candidate	Contesting for	Party	Votes Obtained	Supported by
Sadiq Sanjrani	Chairmanship	Independent	57Y	Opposition Benches Independents
Saleem Mandviwalla	Deputy Chairmanship	PPP	54Y
Raja Zafar-ul-Haq	Chairmanship	PML-N	46 N	Treasury Benches
Usman Khan Kakar	Deputy Chairmanship	PkMAP	44 N

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