Why even bother having senate ‘elections’ when it is understood that the representation is going to be proportionate to party seats at the provincial levels?
And, it is well known that a bunch of rich families are obsessed with buying their way in to the Senate because they love the title i.e. they want to be politically involved but do not want to deal with the riffraff that comes with general elections.
So instead of having to bear these ‘elections’ let us drop the hypocrisy and come up with new rules: Half the Senate seats go up for open bidding and the other half get directly appointed by the political party that earns them, based on provincial representation.
This way, at least half the Senate will constitute of people that political parties need to oblige and accommodate, and the money raised by the other half could go to provinces that sell the seats. The money that is raised by selling Senate seats can at least end up helping the provinces.
Also read: Race for top Senate posts wide open
Think about it: insecure rich people need to feel as if they matter after having done whatever they did to make money. With my formula, they can have that; they can actually feel important and pretend they have a say.
The parties can accommodate the old gentlemen who refuse to realise it is time to retire and let new people come in, as well as the gentlemen who suck the party leadership dry and never leave their side but do not have the personality to stand a chance in a general election.
It is a win-win for all those involved.
I really hope we can accept this and cut out our hypocrisy. But until we do, let us enjoy Zardar
The writer is currently doing his PhD in Political Science at Georgia State University.
He tweets @adnanrasool.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
#WeWillNeverForgetToForget — our #Fail
Senate it self is a joke! and so the election. Wonder the members of lower house electing their own masters whose primary job is to keep any eye on them. Wow!
Biggest Muk Muka between all status quo parties who brought horses through trading and now they will trade Pakistan for next 6 years. IK at least you did not join them in senate salute to you.
'Asif Zardari rose from political hibernation, walked over to the PML-N and PTI, quietly took what he wanted and walked away'.
What did Zardari take away from PTI who did not even participate in election of chairman?
As far as fuss is concerned, PTI, its other shortcomings notwithstanding, is the first party that made horse trading, a fact well-established and started by NS in his Changa Manga days, a national issue. For the first time in decades, the super-rich Waqar family could not buy a senate.
I agree though that senate elections is a joke. But the same could be said about general elections. The election tribunal, for example, found more than 500 iregularities in one famous constituency, but still N league argues its not rigging.
Zardari showed who is holding real power ...
PPP had made PMLN look like beggars ... forever !!!
What improvement senate election will bring in common man's life?? Why media and politician spending so much time on this routine matter??
@Naved It would save a lot of hard earned tax payers and donars money if this horse-trading body called off completely.
The SYSTEM is rotten.no matter what you do it's not going to a change a bit.we following the wrong path. We need a system based on JUSTICE.
These politicians are jokers - can be bought easily. Power lies with the person who is cunning and has no principles. None of the politicians are leaders. Almost all are deceivers, fraudsters and swindlers. The definition of leader says that the person is trust worthy. Can anyone put his hand on his/her heart and say that he/she is a leader. Telling a lie is not politics - it's deceitfulness. Majority of them are market commodities can be bought and sold easily based on the price. Unless we learn to distinguish between right and wrong, lie and truth, good and bad we as nation cannot rise.
Senators must be elected trough direct vote. Elected members cannot be truted
Why ?...........because the West loves a SHOW called ' democracy '........ no matter how absurd the show is.
In the photo NS looks so much like Zardari wow what a resemblance.
@Parvez This absurd show makes marvels in the West. Don't blame Mercedes for the accident. It's the driver always responsible for it.
FYI! Senate was in place before the assemblies. Assemblies were formed to take over the role of senate before 73 constitution but muk mukka prevented that to be happened.
Its not a Joke. The nation's destiny has been hijacked by charlatans and the mullahs and we are reaping what these people are sowing.
It clearly demonstrated the weakbesses and hollowness of PTI. why they required every member to take out his ballot show it to the supremos and than next guy would cast it. Can anything be more embarrassing for a political party to have more than half legislators ready to violate the norms of INQILABIS agenda. Must read anslysis of Salim safi to have good insight in PTI "s reality.
But they worry about elections in Kashmir which is having fair and free
"Overall, the Senate elections just helped the nation realise how our politicians are still bickering over all the wrong priorities."
As if there's still something left for us to realize. Still we will vote for the highest bidder and still do politics of personalities.
@Tughril Sabir 'Can anything be more embarrassing for a political party to have more than half legislators ready to violate the norms of INQILABIS agenda'.
Yes. Endemic corruption, nepotism, cronyism, plundering national wealth, destroying state institutions because of political interference, appointments without merit, rigging in elections, use of public office to achieve personal ends, state terrorism (Model Town massacre) and so on.
Let me know if you need more worse examples.
The joke that is Pakistani politics!
The whole election setup is a circus, period.
Any comments on Imran Khan. This poor country will go to the dogs, as it appears to me. Pakistan needs a major, major surgical procedures. Replace both the knee caps with a new one, so Pakistan can start running again. The replacement would be AZ and NS.
Right on! But why is everybody taken aback! We voted these folks in. We knew their DNA. So no reason to complain. We got what we asked for. Sorry guys, you need to be accountable!
Lets see,Do we elect the President in Pakistan? how about the governors ? or, the city mayors (nazims ) ,or the senators ,any body ? the Taliban country of Afghanistan is actually doing better than us in democracy and because of that soon may pass Pakistan ecnomically too !
The whole system is flawed.
Senate seats must be sell out in a transparent manner VIA The Privatization Commission of Pakistan and it will generate a good revenue for the nation!!!!
Just another waste of millions of rupees of public money on these senators. Apparently, the families of these senators also get the 'blue' passport. why??
Jokers are laughing all the way to the bank. Not bad if one could make millions by playing jokes.
horse trading exit and KPK has its solid history on it. FATA is used to attain some goals and a fact well-established and started by These two political families
Unfortunately the whole system is now a joke because it does not hold any credibility of fairness and upholding the institutional system, be it the Senate and or the National Assembly. PPP and PML -N have made it so corrupt for the sake of power that these two democratic bodies can not do nothing for the people of Pakistan except for corruption. At the end of the day... we all depend upon one institution to protect us.
