Candidates elected unopposed to all Balochistan Senate seats: Lack of trust or consensus?

The ruling coalition in Balochistan has elected candidates unopposed to all 11 vacant Senate seats of the province.

By Mohammad Kazim, BBC Urdu.com

In Balochistan province, the ruling alliance of Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz

has elected unopposed candidates for all 11 vacant Senate seats.

There are grave accusations of money being used in the Balochistan elections for seats in the Senate. The allegations refer to buying and selling votes, leading to people from outside the province being elected senators from Balochistan. Prominent contractors and investors from the province have also secured Senate seats.

According to some political leaders and observers, the People’s Party and the Nawaz League were apprehensive about losing some of their Assembly members, as has happened. To avoid this, these parties decided to make their candidates uncontested and successful in all the seats. This is why the formation of the provincial cabinet has been delayed, unprecedented in the past.

The Chief Minister of Balochistan and the leaders of political parties in the government have adopted a strategy to make candidates succeed in the Senate unopposed. This approach removes the stain on Balochistan’s reputation regarding the buying and selling votes.

He attributed the delay in cabinet formation to more consultations and other vital engagements due to the coalition government.

Why were more allegations of money being used in the Senate elections in Balochistan? How did all the senators get elected unopposed this time? Will this trend of elected unopposed continue, and will the Senate elections in Balochistan not require any monetary transactions? Before knowing the views of political analysts on this matter, it is essential to mention the names of the senators who were elected unopposed.

The senators who were elected uncontested from Balochistan belong to which parties? 

In Balochistan, all candidates won unopposed to 7 Senate seats, 2 each for technocrats and women.

Several candidates were elected to the seven general seats in the recent elections. The successful candidates included Syedal Khan Nasir and Agha Shahzeb Durrani from PML-N, Sardar Mohammad Umar Gorgage from the People’s Party, Jan Mohammad Buledi from the National Party, Amil Wali Khan from the Awami National Party, Ahmad Khan Khileji from Jamiat Ulema Islam, and others. 

Anwar Haq Kakar, a former Prime Minister, won as an independent candidate. Maulana Abdul Wasi of JUI and Bilal Mandukhel of PPP won the two Technocrat’s seats, while Rahat Jamali of Nawaz League and Hasna Bano of PPP won the women’s seats.

Amil Wali Khan of the Awami National Party from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been elected to parliament from Balochistan.

During the recent general elections, Ameer of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman was elected as a Member of the National Assembly from Pashin.

During the general elections, Amil Wali Khan and Maulana Fazlur Rahman lost their respective constituencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti initiated efforts to elect unopposed candidates in the Senate general elections from Balochistan.

Were all candidates elected unopposed for Senate for the first time in Balochistan?

Candidates from all parties in the Balochistan Assembly were nominated for the April 2, 2024, Senate election.

However, the three major parties in the province—the People’s Party, Nawaz League, and Jamiat Ulema Islam—agreed to field unopposed candidates in all the seats, so the voting did not proceed.

According to analyst Syed Ali Shah, there have been instances in the past where people from Balochistan have been elected unopposed as senators, but only for one or two seats at most. This raises the question of whether all Senate candidates from Balochistan have been elected unopposed before, which is yet to be confirmed.

According to him, the consensus tradition is prevalent in Balochistan, with some chief ministers elected by consensus. However, the recent unopposed election of senators for all seats is unprecedented, as it is the first time such many senators have been elected without any opposition.

Allegations of buying and selling of votes in the Senate election in Balochistan

The Balochistan Assembly has 65 members, less than other provincial assemblies.

Since each province has equal representation in the Senate, the votes of smaller provinces like Balochistan carry the same weight as those of larger provinces despite having fewer votes.

Political commentator Rafiullah Kakar says buying and selling votes in Senate elections is common in Balochistan due to the low number of votes required for a senator to be elected.

A senator requires only 6 to 8 votes to win general seats in the Senate from Balochistan.

According to senior analyst Shehzada Zulfiqar, members of the Balochistan Assembly have a reputation for being involved in Senate elections.

According to his statement, fewer votes are required to become a senator in Balochistan than in Sindh and Punjab. This has resulted in outside individuals, contractors, and capitalists from Balochistan buying votes. He has observed such practices taking place in the region.

According to Shehzada Zulfiqar, industrialists or owners of large construction companies can expand their businesses by becoming senators and receiving a lot of work from the federal government. They can avoid losing business by investing a few billion rupees into this.

According to his account, in 2018, a company owner elected by a political party in Balochistan accused him of paying Rs 3.5 billion as a bribe to become a senator. Subsequently, he left that party and joined another one, becoming a senator from that party without difficulty.

Although the election did not occur this time, people accuse a person of joining another party and becoming a senator overnight.

He said that many people within the party from which the man became a senator were angry that a capitalist ignored him.

According to Shehzada Zulfiqar, using money in the Senate elections is a well-known fact. He recalled an incident from the past where a member of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly returned the money a capitalist had given to a minority member in exchange for their vote. The minority member was to vote for the capitalist in the Senate elections.

‘Before being elected as a senator, the capitalist gave money in advance to a minority member who was part of the panel of Assembly members to vote for the capitalist. However, on the day of the election, the minority member’s name was removed from the panel, which caused him not to vote for the capitalist. Consequently, he returned the money that had been given to him.’

Analyst Syed Ali Shah believes there has been a market in the past for the election of the Senate in the Balochistan Assembly. Allegedly, Assembly members have been selling their votes.

How was it possible to elect all senators unopposed this time?

Syed Ali Shah reports that there was no vote market this year as all political parties agreed to elect all Senate candidates unopposed.

Shehzada Zulfiqar credits the People’s Party and Nawaz League for creating a consensus with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, the third-largest party in the Balochistan Assembly.

According to him, the Senate is very important for legislation. Hence, the leadership of the People’s Party and Nawaz League is striving to secure a majority in the Senate. They have endeavored to obtain the maximum number of votes from Balochistan.

Will the tradition of unopposed elections continue in the future? 

Rafiullah Kakar reports that all Balochistan senators were elected unopposed this time.

The unopposed election is not a good practice in a healthy democratic system despite appearing to be an improvement over buying and selling.

He said that in a democracy, people form political parties according to their manifesto and vision and compete for them. 

Rafiullah Kakar suggests that political parties with unopposed candidates may have similar manifestos and programs.

According to him, if that is the case, these parties need not compete. ‘And if it is not so, then they are right to suspect that some parties do not trust their members.’

He mentioned that some political parties were afraid that forming the cabinet first could lead to vote-buying and electables voting across party lines, which would prove their lack of confidence.

Rafiullah Kakar believes that most political parties in Pakistan are not proper political parties but are merely groups of electables who switch parties frequently.

He expressed that an uncontested election would diminish the Senate’s sanctity and role as a voice for smaller provinces.

Shehzada Zulfiqar believes that the tradition of electing senators unopposed may not continue in the future.

Will it be possible to stop using money in Senate elections in Balochistan in the future? 

Shehzada Zulfiqar believes that political parties and the ruling party can prevent using money in Senate elections in Balochistan.

He stated that if money is not utilized in the Senate election, it will not discredit Balochistan’s elected officials, politics, and assembly.

Shehzada Zulfiqar expressed skepticism, stating that several Balochistan Assembly members had become overnight millionaires due to vote selling in the past.

He mentioned that if this did not happen now, many assembly members might be unhappy about losing an opportunity to make money because they had invested heavily in reaching the assembly.

Shehzada Zulfiqar suggests that political parties and authorities should take measures to prevent buying votes, stating that if people are unwilling to sell their votes, they cannot be bought.

Cabinet formation delayed due to Senate elections 

Mir Sarfraz Bugti, who took oath as Chief Minister on March 2, 2024, has not yet formed his cabinet.

In the past, the formation of the cabinet in Balochistan has experienced delays due to a lack of consensus among coalition governments and other issues. However, some observers and political leaders believe the current delay is due to the Senate elections.

During the presidential election, Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, a Gwadar Haq Do Tehreek leader and Provincial Assembly member, alleged that the central leadership of the People’s Party and Nawaz League didn’t have faith in their assembly members. As a result, the formation of the cabinet was delayed until the Senate elections could be held to prevent any possibility of party members selling their votes.

According to Syed Ali Shah, if the political parties had confidence in their members, the cabinet would have been formed on the day of the Chief Minister’s swearing-in. However, due to a lack of trust, this didn’t happen.

According to him, each party assembly member wishes to be included in the cabinet and receive good ministries. They may become disenchanted if their demands are not met before the Senate elections. Therefore, the formation of the cabinet was postponed to ensure that the desired outcomes could be obtained in the Senate elections.

In his view, the cabinet will be formed immediately after all the senators are elected unopposed.

‘Senators were elected unopposed to clean up the stains on Balochistan’ 

The ruling coalition’s leaders firmly rejected the notion that the senators were elected unopposed due to a lack of confidence.

During a joint press conference in Islamabad, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti announced that all political parties have cleared allegations of vote buying and selling in the Senate regarding Balochistan.

He mentioned that we have adopted a collective political model to manage all matters.

Sarfraz Bugti stated that not only was there a consensus in the Senate election, but earlier, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and Chief Minister were also elected by consensus.

Muslim League-Nawaz Balochistan President Sheikh Jaffar Mandukhel said this tradition established in Balochistan is a role model.

Senators are elected by consensus to discourage the means used to elect senators in Balochistan.

He mentioned they had agreed on every matter instead of taking solo flights. He added that the situation in Balochistan has declined to a point where it can only be managed through consensus.

The senior leader of the People’s Party, Mir Sadiq Umrani, described the consensus reached in the Senate elections as a positive development.

“He said that, by consensus, each party receives a share proportionate to its representation.”

The article was originally published in BBC Urdu, translated by the Bolan Voice team, and is republished with special thanks.