Musharraf still likely to get over 2/3rd majority from Punjab Assembly

[Awesome]

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Musharraf likely to get 72pc votes from PA

* ‘Go ahead and resign, boycott’, law minister says to Punjab Assembly opposition
* PML, APDM resigning, says opposition

By Arslan Rafiq Bhatti

LAHORE: President General Pervez Musharraf is likely to secure close to a two-third majority from the Punjab Assembly in the presidential election on October 6.

The Punjab Assembly, the biggest among the provincial assemblies, has 371 seats: 270 belong to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), 59 to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), 33 to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and nine to the from Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). However, one ruling party member, Saleh Muhammad Gunjial from PP-40, was removed from office by the courts, reducing the ruling party’s strength to 269.

The electoral college — comprising the National Assembly, the Senate and four provincial assemblies — has a total membership of 1,162, which translates via a pre-determined formula into 702 votes for the presidential election. Members of the National Assembly (342), Senate (100) and members of the Balochistan Assembly (65), since it contains the lowest number of members in the provincial assemblies, have one vote each. The remaining provincial assemblies are accorded the same number of votes as the Balochistan Assembly (65 each). .

Hence, Punjab Assembly’s 370 votes divided by this figure (65) translate into one vote per 5.69 members. According to this formula, 47 of the total 65 Punjab Assembly votes belong to the ruling party and 18 to the opposition.

Almost two-third majority likely in PA: If the PML-N and MMA resign from the assemblies, as announced by the All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM), and the PPP abstains from voting, ruling party presidential candidate General Musharraf will get a minimum of 47 votes from the Punjab Assembly, the highest number from any of the provincial assemblies. In Punjab, then, the president-general stands to amass 72 percent of the votes, amounting to almost a two-third majority.

‘Go ahead and resign, boycott’: Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja told Daily Times President Gen Musharraf will get 47 votes from the Punjab Assembly and members who want to resign or boycott the vote were free to do so. In any case, he said, the opposition has always threatened to resign from the assemblies but has not done so for the last four years. Now that the assemblies, in an unprecedented event, are about to complete their tenure, they are talking of resigning again, he added.

The law minister said he failed to understand how the opposition continues to flaunt rhetoric about democracy while their own attitudes and practices are totally undemocratic. “Do not sabotage it. Let the democratic process be completed,” he pleaded.

PML-N, APDM resigning: The Punjab deputy opposition leader, the PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah Khan said the party has been collecting resignations, and by Tuesday 20 of the party’s 33 MPAs had submitted their resignations. He said there was no second opinion about the PML-N and APDM’s decision to resign from the assemblies before the presidential election.

Senior MMA leader and Punjab Assembly member Syed Ihsanullah Waqas said the party will comply with the APDM decision and will hand over resignations to senior party leaders in Mansoora on Tuesday.

Punjab opposition leader Qasim Zia said the PPP will decide in a meeting on October 3 in London whether the party will resign from the assemblies or abstain from the presidential election.

Should be a slap on the face of the anti-Musharraf drive. He still commands the people's vote, such a big majority in Punjab is significant. A simple majority in Sindh would do the trick.