ith the mayoral elections around the corner, both Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) are determined to make it a fight to the finish. None has shown a willingness to acknowledge the other’s strength, leave alone reaching a settlement to work together. With City Council elections slotted for Thursday, the tension is palpable.

After the allocations against reserved seats, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is predictably the largest single party but lacks the majority support. The JI, the second largest group, is counting on the support of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the third largest, to prevail in the KMC City Council, which comprises a total of 367 members. Since the result of one UC has been withheld, the house currently comprises 366 members.

The Sindh Election Commission has sent the results to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for official notification.

The PPP now commands 155 seats and the JI 130 seats. The PTI holds the third position and the balance of the house with 63 seats. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in the fourth position with 14 seats. Other parties, such as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have the remaining seats.

Victory in the June 15 elections can thus be guaranteed once a candidate has the support of 184 City Council members. Since none of the parties has singlehandedly secured the simple majority required to do so, the support of the smaller parties is crucial.

The JI and the PTI have announced an electoral alliance, nominally giving them 193 members and an unassailable majority. The alliance makes the JI a favourite to elect and install its mayor. The PPP has garnered support from the PML-N and the JUI-F, so that it can count on the support of 175 members of the City Council.

Seeing that they cannot be beaten otherwise, some JI leaders have expressed concerns about horse trading. The party has also filed a petition before the Sindh High Court in this connection.

While the JI-PTI alliance has the numbers required to appoint the mayor as of now, some PPP representatives have claimed that following the May 9 fallout, some of the PTI members maybe unwilling to vote for the JI.

Media analysts agree that given the fragmentation of PTI’s Sindh chapter and the on-going crackdown against its workers since May 9, the PTI members elect cannot be counted upon to behave like a decisive force. Speculations are rife that the JI-PTI alliance may fail to win the mayor’s office through some of the PTI members’ failure to cast their votes as per prior agreement.

While the JI-PTI alliance has the numbers required to appoint the mayor as of now, some PPP representatives have claimed that following the May 9 fallout, some of the PTI members maybe unwilling to vote for the JI.

From the margins

he representation of marginalised social groups in the Karachi City Council has improved somewhat with seats reserved this time in six categories. The development has been welcomed by several rights groups and civil society organisations including the transgender community of the metropolis.

The Sindh Local Government Act, amended two years ago, provides for reservation of seats for women, youth (at least one seat), labour/ peasant (one seat), non-Muslim members (one seat), persons with disabilities (one seat) and transgender persons (one seat) in every local government council of the province.

Last Sunday the Election Commission completed the process of allocating the seats in line with the party strength on general seats.

These representatives are now set to cast their votes to elect the mayor, deputy mayor and town chairperson and vice-chairperson. Polling for mayor and deputy mayor is to take place on June 15 through a show of hands.

Commenting on the development, Koko*, a transgender resident of North Nazimabad, expressed hope that the electoral inclusion will be followed by greater empowerment of the transgender citizens and the community.

Representation, she said, was only the beginning. She said there was a dire need for affirmative action for the trans community as well as other marginalised groups. She said scholarships and job quotas were needed.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which recently organised a seminar on Improving Electoral Participation: Political Empowerment of Marginalised Groups, has also welcomed the development as a move in the right direction.

The leading political parties have yet to field women candidates for leadership roles in Karachi.

Faryal Talpur and Nafisa Shah of the PPP have previously served as district nazims and Rahila Magsi from the Muslim League-Quaid as the nazim for Tando Allahyar. 

The author is a Karachi-based freelance journalist. He tweets @AliOusat