Islamabad, Oct 14: The impressive victories posted
by Pakistan's hardline religious parties in last week's
elections to the national and provincial assemblies would
enable them to play a dominant role in the 100-member senate to be constituted next month.
The number of seats won by the six religious party
alliance Muthahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) will help it secure the key post of chairman of the senate, whose members would be elected by the provincial assemblies under proportional representation system.
The chairmanship of the senate could be crucial as under
the constitution, the speaker of the senate would become the
officiating president in the absence of the president, local
daily 'Dawn' said.
The chairman or the speaker of the senate would take over
as president, should the seats fall vacant for any reason.
The senate would have 22 seats from each of the four
provinces including eight from Federally Administered Areas,
(FATA) and four from the federal capital, Islamabad.
The MMA, which had a poor representation in the previous
Parliament, has emerged as the third largest force in the Oct
10 elections. It also won majorities in the provincial assemblies in NWFP and Baluchistan where it was poised to form the governments.
As per the poll figures, the MMA will have a share of at
least 48 per cent from the NWFP provincial assembly for the
senate, 27 per cent from Baluchistan, 10 per cent from Sindh, and two per cent from Punjab besides 50 per cent share from the federal capital where two members of national assembly would elect four senators.
Bureau Report
