The ruling coalition faces a significant challenge in securing the necessary votes in the Senate (upper house of Pakistan’s parliament) for a proposed constitutional amendment.

The government needs 64 votes to pass the amendment. The current coalition of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) only commands 54 votes. Support from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) (JUI-F) and independent senators is crucial for the amendment’s passage.

The current Senate composition shows:

Government Coalition:

24 PPP senators, 19 PML-N senators, 4 Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) senators, and 3 Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) senators. Adding 2 independent senators brings the total to 54.

Shortfall: Even with the support of the two independent senators, the government still needs 10 more votes (64 total needed - 54 current votes = 10 votes needed).

Potential Support from Opposition: The government will need to secure support from senators on the opposition benches. This includes five JUI-F senators, 3 Awami National Party (ANP) senators, and one senator each from the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), National Party, and Balochistan National Party (BNP).

Opposition Composition:

The opposition benches consist of 17 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senators, one each from the Sunni Ittehad Council and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), and one independent senator.

In short, the government’s success hinges on securing support from a significant portion of the opposition, particularly from the JUI-F and ANP. The number of votes needed is 10, not 9 as previously stated.