Pakistan's ex-PM and PPP leader Gillani becomes Senate chairman; PML-N's Nasir gets deputy role

Islamabad: Senior Pakistan Peoples Party leader and former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was elected unopposed as chairman of the Senate on Tuesday, amidst protest from lawmakers from jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party.

Saidal Khan Nasir of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was elected as the deputy chairman.

No one had filed nomination papers against the two candidates supported by the ruling alliance led by the PML-N.

The Senate met amidst protest by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers who were demanding that the session, during which the chairperson and deputy chairperson would be elected, should be postponed until the election of senators from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province where polling was scheduled to be held on April 2 but postponed due to the controversy over the oath of members elected on reserved seats.

Early this month, elections were held in Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh, but not in PTI-ruled KP province — where Senate polls were delayed on 11 seats due to provincial assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati’s refusal to administer the oath to opp­osi­t­ion lawmakers on rese­rved seats.

These seats were allotted to the PPP, PML-N, and other parties after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected a plea by the PTI and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) for the allocation of these seats.

After the session began, 41 newly-elected senators were given oaths. The total strength of the Senate is 96, but currently, only 85 senators are its members as elections for 11 senators from KP are still pending.

With the election of the chairman and his deputy, the ruling alliance further solidified its grip on power as now it controls both Houses of Parliament.

The Senate is the upper house of Pakistan’s bicameral Parliament. The senators are elected for six-and-a-half-year with half of the house up for election every three years. They are elected by the provincial and National Assemblies.

Almost a month ago, the Upper House became dysfunctional following the retirement of half of its members.