smokerings

[ today, ]

General Musharraf is going to be re-elected as the President of this country for the next five years. Here's how.

The Provincial Assemblies currently consist of 728 seats.
As far as the Presidential Electoral College goes, that amounts to 260 votes- that is, 65 votes for each province. This is done to give every province equal weight in voting.

There are 65 seats in the Balochistan Assembly…. With 38 percent going to the PML-Q.
The PML-Q also has an overwhelming majority in the Punjab, with nearly 60% of the 371 seats.
Sindh is the greatest power struggle: the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians have one-third of the seats. But the pro-government coalition of the PML-Q and the MQM combine to dominate the province with 49% of the assembly.

Finally, there are 124 seats in NWFP Assembly, where the Muttahaida Majlis e Amal coalition ruled with 56% of the seats.
Yesterday, 36 of their members resigned, bringing the party hold over the assembly down to 27%.

Next, the National Assembly. There are 342 seats in the National Assembly or the Lower House. Of these, nearly 40% belong to the PML Q, 16% belong to the PPPP, nearly 6% are held by the MMA and about 5% belong to PML N. The other significant groups in the National Assembly are the MQM, with nearly 6% of the seats, and the National Alliance, with 4% of the seats.

In the National Assembly, every member counts as one vote. That means 342 seats equal to 342 votes.

85 of these members will not be voting any more.

Members of the MMA and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf were amongst those members of the All Pakistan Democratic Movement who resigned from the National Assembly today, in a bid to block General Musharraf’s re-election. Some members of the PML-Q resigned as well.

Finally, the Senate. The Upper House of Pakistan’s government has 100 seats, of which 39 belong to the PML-Q.

So this is what it looked like last night: 260 votes from the provinces, 257 votes from the National Assembly, and 100 votes from the Senate. The Presidential candidates need a simple majority to win.

If you're still wondering why the APDM quit the government... it's because they're in a minority in either case. Thats the point of a RULING MAJORITY. and that's the entire point of DEMOCRATIC elections... the Assemblies complete their term, a new NA is formed (based on people's evaluation of the previous govt, whether they want to keep it in power or not) and then they choose their President. Musharraf has increased his powers AND his immunity to democratic change.

in the words of a white man: may Pakistan prosper, always.

**ELECTORAL UPDATE AFTER 3**