Pakistan holds Senate elections

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Pakistan is holding the Senate elections to choose its 52 new senators on Saturday.

The voting is underway in the national assembly as well as four provincial assemblies for the body of 104 lawmakers, each serving a six-year term.

The country only elects half of the senators at a time, and holds the voting for the other half after three years.

A total of 133 candidates are contesting for 52 seats. The other 52 will retire this year.

Forty-six senators will be elected from the four provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Two seats will be filled by the National Assembly while lawmakers representing the country's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) will fill four seats in the Upper House of Parliament, it said.

The eastern province of Punjab and the southern province of Sindh each have 12 Senate seats, while the western province of Balochistan and the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa each have 11 seats.

The polling began at 9 a.m. (4 a.m. GMT) and is expected to conclude without a break at 4 p.m. local time.

The local media quoted a senior ECP official as saying that extensive security arrangements are in place at all the polling stations established in parliament house and the provincial assemblies.

The voting is held by secret ballot. The new senators will take oath on March 12.

Political scenario

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was elected by Parliament in August 2017 after his predecessor Nawaz Sharif resigned over corruption charges.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi listens during an interview with Reuters in Islamabad, Pakistan, January 22, 2018. /Reuters Photo

Former petroleum minister Abbasi is an ally of Sharif, who was disqualified from public office by the Supreme Court for failing to disclose his family's financial assets.

State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, who is from Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) party, has touched upon the issue of the former prime minister's disqualification on Saturday while speaking to media in front of the parliament.

She said Sharif still enjoys widespread public support.

"Never in any country’s history has an elected prime minister been dismissed on the basis of a foreign work permit," she was quoted in the local media as saying.

"Nawaz will come out as the winner in today’s elections," she said.

A parliamentarian from the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told the press that their chairman Imran Khan would not cast a vote as he has other commitments.