The ruling coalition will secure a firm control over the Senate (Upper House of Parliament) in coming March, enabling the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to have its nominee as its Chairman for the first time after 1977. The major contributor to beefing up the power of the PPP, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Awami National Party would be their large numerical strength in the three provincial assemblies in which they have complete sway. Fifty percent of the total of 100 seats of the Upper House will fall vacant in March to be filled by the provincial assemblies and the National Assembly. As a whole, the PPP's existing strength of just 10 senators may triple in the Senate after the forthcoming election. The PPP will get a lion's share from the Sindh Assembly while the rest of the vacant seats in this legislature will be taken by the Muthahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and smaller parliamentary groups. Similarly, in the Punjab Assembly the PML-N, which now has mere four senators, will bag majority of the seats to be closely trailed by the PPP and others including the PML-Q. The PPP will also get a good number of seats from Balochistan, as its nominee is the provincial chief minister. Jamiate Ulemae Islam (JUI), PML-Q and regional parties will bag the remaining seats. In the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Assembly, the Awami National Party (ANP), which presently has just 2 senators, will secure most of the seats while the rest will go to the PPP and other parliamentary groups. In the National Assembly, the PPP and PML-N will share the seats, falling vacant. The PML-N will get nothing from Sindh, the NWFP and Balochistan for having no seat in these provincial assemblies. While the PPP will be the biggest gainer, the PML-Q, which at present has thirty-eight senators, the largest number in the 100-person Senate, will be the biggest loser in the March election. As the PPP could get the office of the Punjab chief minister only once during the seventies despite ruling at the federal level thrice (including the present term) after 1977, it also could have its nominee (Habibullah) as Senate Chairman just once during the seventies. The Upper House was created in the 1973 Constitution. When the Senate was re-created in 1985, Ghulam Ishaq Khan became its chairman followed by Wasim Sajjad, who held this office for the longest period of over a decade. After that, the incumbent Mohammadmian Soomro was elected to this office. For the time being there are no indications that Soomro is being shown the door in the immediate future. However, after the March election, the ruling coalition will secure its own comfortable two-thirds majority in the Senate that it already enjoys in the National Assembly. __
