Despite the retirement of several MPs on March 11, the three major political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), are expected to preserve their Senate domination, The News said on Monday.
The PML-N and the PPP, having demonstrated their strength in provincial assemblies following the February 8 polls, are likely to pose a threat to the PTI, which has the potential to emerge as the largest party in the upper house of parliament if it can overcome the party’s numerous legal challenges.
Senators are elected to six-year terms, however half of them retire every three years and elections are held for new members, as the Senate is the only legislature that is not subject to dissolution.
According to senators’ term data, the PML-N would lose 11 of its 16 members, while the PPP will lose 12 of its 21 members when their six-year terms come to an end.
However, the PTI, which first made it to the Senate in 2015, will lose only seven of its 24 members, leaving 17 in the House even before the Senate elections.
Subject to clearance from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding its intra-party polls, set for March 3, and other legal matters, PTI is in a position to possibly outnumber the other two major political parties because of its numerical dominance in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly and significant presence.
