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ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: After withdrawals from the contest, the Election Commission on Saturday listed 186 candidates who will vie for 92 seats of the 100-seat Senate at stake in the election to be held later this month amid fears of vote-buying and manipulation.
The commission declared four women and four technocrats elected unopposed against reserved seats from the Punjab province, which left a total of 92 general and reserved seats to be contested from the four provinces on Feb 24 and from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the federal capital Islamabad on Feb 27.
The PML-Q and its allies appear set to win a simple majority in the upper house. But political sources said this majority could be as slender as the ruling coalition now has in the 342-seat National Assembly, which was elected in general elections.
The opposition parties, which originally sounded optimistic to grab a Senate majority mainly on the back of their numerical superiority in three provincial assemblies — Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan — now concede the task had become nearly impossible because of what they call manipulation, which the government denies.
VOTE-BUYING FEARS: Fears of vote-buying by rich independent candidates have been voiced by opposition as well as ruling parties.
“There are reports that independents have the backing of invisible elements and also...about large bags of money (on offer for votes),” a spokesman for People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) said.
“The way the government is engaged (in the affair), the opposition will not be allowed to gain a majority,” said spokesman Farhatullah Babar.
He said the government could not afford to allow the opposition to take the seat of Senate chairman, who becomes acting president in the absence of the president and “can do a lot” in law-making.
