Pakistan Opposition fails to oust Senate chairman
Sadiq Sanjrani, an independent from Balochistan, survives no-confidence motion by three votes
Pakistan’s Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani surprisingly survived the Opposition’s no-confidence vote on August 1 by three votes.
The Opposition has 64 members in the Senate and it needed 53 votes for the motion to pass in the 104-member House, but when the votes were counted, the Opposition managed to get only 50 votes. How did this happen? Analysts see the government’s invisible hands in defeating the Opposition motion.
‘Democracy weakened’
The government has embarrassed itself and weakened democracy by illegitimately interfering with the Senate elections, said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Musadik Malik. “Such high-handed interventions weaken the spirit of democracy, and the essence of our Constitution,” he told The Hindu.
The PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had submitted a joint resolution in the Senate in July against Chairman Sanjrani, an independent Senator from the Balochistan province, saying he was supporting the government and had lost the confidence of the House. Later the Opposition moved the no-confidence motion.
Senator Hasil Bizenjo, leader of the National Party of Pakistan, was the Opposition’s candidate.
After the failure of the motion, Mr. Sanjrani is now poised to continue his three-year term until March 2021.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Shibli Faraz, who is also Leader of the House in the Senate, told The Hindu before the no-confidence move that he had warned the Opposition parties against the move. “I told them that they must refrain from causing instability at the institutional level but they had very short-term objectives in their mind so they sacrificed the long-term objectives like stability and democracy.”
However, PML(N)’s Mr. Malik thinks otherwise. “What has happened in the Senate elections is not surprising. Albeit, it is profoundly sorrowful. The administration is now trying to create a breach in the unity of political parties by churning rumour mills and circulating fake news.”
PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar agrees. What happened in the Senate on Thursday was “surprising for many of us”. Sen. Khokhar was the first person from the PPP to submit his resignation to party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari – all other Senators from the PPP followed suit. “I don’t want to go back to the House as it is about my dignity and principles.”
“It was depressing or demoralising,” he added. “We cannot say who defected unless and until we have solid evidence, we should avoid pointing fingers at anyone because of some forwarded made-up lists. These lists are meant to divide the Opposition and we will not fall for such dirty and age-old tricks of the government. They played dirty; we did not.”
Mr. Faraz of the PTI says this defeat in the Senate will not only demoralise the Opposition but it should make them think that what they have started is not going to end here. “They have discredited themselves. They have exposed their weaknesses, they have exposed their incoherence, and they have also allowed themselves to be humiliated at such a juncture where they were about to start a movement against the government and that has terribly destroyed their planning. The first step that they took, first initiative that they took, was badly defeated. This also shows how brittle they are when it comes to a united stand.”
‘A futile exercise’
Journalist and anchorperson Ayesha Bakhsh feels that this no-confidence move that was an exercise in futility. “We have seen in the past that whether it’s the elections, formation of government, nothing happens against tradition. Wherever power is, votes are tilted that way,” Ms. Bakhsh said.
She added that the only difference this time was that the numbers were on the Opposition’s side: 64 vs 36. “There was little expectation that this margin could be ‘managed’. It is easy to manage 5-8 votes but nobody expected that the Opposition would not be able to manage 53 votes. Before secret balloting, we saw 64 people stand up. Some are calling this ‘voice of conscience’ for those 14 Senators but it is nothing of the sort. It is only about our political traditions.”
According to Ms. Bakhsh’s information, Hasil Bizenjo – the Opposition’s joint candidate for Senate Chairman – was not acceptable to a lot of senators from within his own province, Balochistan. “Then there are some Senators who have skeletons in their closets that could cause problems for them so this was used as a pressure tactic.”
Senior analyst Marvi Sirmed said the outcome of this voting is beyond disappointing at one level for the democrats, it might well be the red flag for the government and its benefactors within the military establishment. “Although it could not de-seat the incumbent Chairman of the Senate, the result has actually shown very thin support for the government.”
Ms. Sirmed says the total vote count opposing the no-confidence move was less than 34% of the Senate. Subsequent to it, voting was carried out on the no-confidence motion against the Deputy Chairman (a member of PPP), moved by the Treasury Benches. The government could only get around 30% of the votes. The opposition only lost on the former because it could not get simple majority of the House (53 votes).
(Originally published in The Hindu)
Pakistan’s Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani surprisingly survived the Opposition’s no-confidence vote on August 1 by three votes.
The Opposition has 64 members in the Senate and it needed 53 votes for the motion to pass in the 104-member House, but when the votes were counted, the Opposition managed to get only 50 votes. How did this happen? Analysts see the government’s invisible hands in defeating the Opposition motion.
‘Democracy weakened’
The government has embarrassed itself and weakened democracy by illegitimately interfering with the Senate elections, said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Musadik Malik. “Such high-handed interventions weaken the spirit of democracy, and the essence of our Constitution,” he told The Hindu.
The PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had submitted a joint resolution in the Senate in July against Chairman Sanjrani, an independent Senator from the Balochistan province, saying he was supporting the government and had lost the confidence of the House. Later the Opposition moved the no-confidence motion.
Senator Hasil Bizenjo, leader of the National Party of Pakistan, was the Opposition’s candidate.
After the failure of the motion, Mr. Sanjrani is now poised to continue his three-year term until March 2021.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Shibli Faraz, who is also Leader of the House in the Senate, told The Hindu before the no-confidence move that he had warned the Opposition parties against the move. “I told them that they must refrain from causing instability at the institutional level but they had very short-term objectives in their mind so they sacrificed the long-term objectives like stability and democracy.”
However, PML(N)’s Mr. Malik thinks otherwise. “What has happened in the Senate elections is not surprising. Albeit, it is profoundly sorrowful. The administration is now trying to create a breach in the unity of political parties by churning rumour mills and circulating fake news.”
PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar agrees. What happened in the Senate on Thursday was “surprising for many of us”. Sen. Khokhar was the first person from the PPP to submit his resignation to party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari – all other Senators from the PPP followed suit. “I don’t want to go back to the House as it is about my dignity and principles.”
“It was depressing or demoralising,” he added. “We cannot say who defected unless and until we have solid evidence, we should avoid pointing fingers at anyone because of some forwarded made-up lists. These lists are meant to divide the Opposition and we will not fall for such dirty and age-old tricks of the government. They played dirty; we did not.”
Mr. Faraz of the PTI says this defeat in the Senate will not only demoralise the Opposition but it should make them think that what they have started is not going to end here. “They have discredited themselves. They have exposed their weaknesses, they have exposed their incoherence, and they have also allowed themselves to be humiliated at such a juncture where they were about to start a movement against the government and that has terribly destroyed their planning. The first step that they took, first initiative that they took, was badly defeated. This also shows how brittle they are when it comes to a united stand.”
‘A futile exercise’
Journalist and anchorperson Ayesha Bakhsh feels that this no-confidence move that was an exercise in futility. “We have seen in the past that whether it’s the elections, formation of government, nothing happens against tradition. Wherever power is, votes are tilted that way,” Ms. Bakhsh said.
She added that the only difference this time was that the numbers were on the Opposition’s side: 64 vs 36. “There was little expectation that this margin could be ‘managed’. It is easy to manage 5-8 votes but nobody expected that the Opposition would not be able to manage 53 votes. Before secret balloting, we saw 64 people stand up. Some are calling this ‘voice of conscience’ for those 14 Senators but it is nothing of the sort. It is only about our political traditions.”
According to Ms. Bakhsh’s information, Hasil Bizenjo – the Opposition’s joint candidate for Senate Chairman – was not acceptable to a lot of senators from within his own province, Balochistan. “Then there are some Senators who have skeletons in their closets that could cause problems for them so this was used as a pressure tactic.”
Senior analyst Marvi Sirmed said the outcome of this voting is beyond disappointing at one level for the democrats, it might well be the red flag for the government and its benefactors within the military establishment. “Although it could not de-seat the incumbent Chairman of the Senate, the result has actually shown very thin support for the government.”
Ms. Sirmed says the total vote count opposing the no-confidence move was less than 34% of the Senate. Subsequent to it, voting was carried out on the no-confidence motion against the Deputy Chairman (a member of PPP), moved by the Treasury Benches. The government could only get around 30% of the votes. The opposition only lost on the former because it could not get simple majority of the House (53 votes).
(Originally published in The Hindu)
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