Islamabad, Jul 22 (PTI) Pakistan’s ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif secured a two-thirds majority in the Senate after the results of the recently held elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly were announced.
Senate, the upper house in Pakistan’s parliament, is elected indirectly by provincial assemblies. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly went for polls on Monday to elect eleven senators. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) got six seats in the elections, while opposition parties won five seats, according to the result announced by the Speaker of the provincial assembly. As per the results, the composition of the Senate changed, where the ruling coalition of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and others got a two-thirds majority in the house of 96 members.
The PPP with 26 seats is the largest party, the PML-N has 20 seats, while the other coalition parties have 12 seats, as per the results announced. The coalition also has the support of six independent senators.
Thus, the total seats of the ruling parties in the senate are 64.
The PTI and its allies have 24 seats while the Jamiat Ulema-e- Islam Fazl (JUI-F) has a total of seven senators. One seat of the Senate is still vacant.
The ruling alliance will now have the upper hand in the Senate after securing the two-thirds majority.
Earlier in June, following the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench decision on reserved seats, the ruling coalition increased its strength in the National Assembly.
Before the verdict, the total number of members from coalition parties stood at 213, including 110 from PML-N, 70 from PPP, 22 from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and 5 from Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). Some small parties with six members also support the coalition.
After the court ruling on June 28 to award reserved seats to various parties, an official document issued by the NA Secretariat showed that the PML-N now leads with 123 members, the PPP has 74, the MQM-P holds 22 seats, PML-Q five, and Istekam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) four. The Balochistan Awami Party, National Party, and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z) each retain one seat.
The total now stands at 231, but the government document cites the ruling coalition’s strength as 235, also counting four independent lawmakers. Its strength is more than 224 required for two-thirds majority. With this comfortable majority, the government can now amend the constitution, for which a two-thirds majority is needed in the National Assembly and Senate. PTI SH RD RD RD
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