Karachi’s mayoral election to witness tough contest
Any party needs 184 seats in house to get its candidate elected
Karachi: The upcoming Karachi mayoral election is likely to witness a tough contest as the runner-up political party, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), has clearly threatened the leading position of ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the soon-to-be-formed City Council.
Though the PPP for the first time emerged as the single largest political party in Karachi as a result of the local government elections held earlier this year, it is far from securing the majority required in the City Council for getting its candidates elected as mayor and deputy mayor of Karachi.
The election for Karachi’s Mayor and Deputy Mayor will likely be held by mid-June after the oath-taking of newly elected members and the filling of reserved seats in the City Council.
The latest announcement by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that it is going to support JI’s candidate in the mayoral election has emerged as a serious threat to the prospects that the PPP for the first time would get the city mayoral post. The PTI emerged at the third position in terms of its seats in the City Council.
The PPP being the leading party is going to get a total of 155 seats in the City Council including its share in the reserved seats in the council. The JI in the runner-up position will get a total of 130 seats in the council. The PTI at the third number will get a total of 63 seats. A political party needs at least 184 seats in the house for getting its candidates elected as the mayor and deputy mayor.
The PPP alone has failed to secure the desired majority in the council. Its candidate for the mayoral election is likely to get votes from the council members belonging to the allied Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. Both parties would have a total of 18 members in the council. Even after getting these 18 votes, the PPP would remain short of 11 votes for winning the mayoral election.
In contrast, the JI and PTI after combining their votes would easily get the numerical strength required in the council for winning the poll for Karachi mayor.
Under the formal agreement likely to be reached between the two parties the JI would get the mayoral slot while a PTI’s candidate would become the next deputy mayor of Karachi.
The PPP leaders are quite hopeful that being the single largest party in Karachi the next mayor would belong to the People’s Party. Sindh Information Minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon, said the PPP would hold talks with every relevant political party in the city for winning the mayoral election.
JI Karachi leader, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, who is keen to become the next mayor of the city, urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure that the mayoral election should be held peacefully and transparently without providing any chance for the ruling party to use its influence to change the political loyalties of the elected local government representatives in the city belonging to other parties.