Islamabad: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, won 18 out 48 Senate seats contested, according to complete unofficial results available yesterday.
In second place was the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) which managed eight seats in polling held on Thursday.
National Assembly members voted in Islamabad to elect two senators from the federal capital while provincial lawmakers voted at the four regional assemblies to elect senators from the respective province.
Elections for four Senate seats in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were postponed amid legal and constitutional wrangles. The Election Commission said a new poll date would be announced later.
The Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) entered Senate for the first time in its history, bagging six seats in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Province where it is in power, while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which had an electoral understanding with the PPP in Sindh, won four seats. The National Party and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party won three seats each.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) of Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, a political ally of PML-N, clinched two seats while the Awami National Party (ANP), the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and the Jamaat-e-Islami won one seat each. An independent candidate also won a Balochistan senate seat.
The newly-elected senators will replace those whose term expires on March 11 in an upper house of parliament with a total of 104 Senate seats.
The PPP remains the largest party in the Senate despite losing its solid lead, which came down from 40 seats to 27 seats — one more than the PML-N.
A keen contest is expected when the house elects its chairman and deputy chairman later this month.
