The results of the multi-party discussions are beginning to reveal themselves, and the first step in the opposition’s plan to take the fight to the government looks to be a filing of the no-trust motion against the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to remove him from office. This is a fight that the opposition might just win, provided they do have the advantage of numbers over the government in the upper house of Parliament.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf will look to hold on to their man by wooing independents to their side, but the ruling party might have the recent budget and other policies made working against them if the opposition seeks to file this motion sooner rather than later.
The opposition is now setting itself on a path for direct confrontation, and the no-trust motion will in all probability only be the first in a series of steps the opposition parties will take in a bid to make the ruling party’s time in government much more difficult.
If the removal goes the opposition’s way, there are reports that the Chairman’s seat will go to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, because of their superior numbers in the Senate. A reshuffle in the opposition is likely to follow this, with the leader of the opposition also relinquishing his seat for someone else from a different part possibly.
While the Senate motion might go the opposition’s way, there is little to expect after a change of Chairman has come to pass. A year in to the government, and so far the government has been mostly left without real challenge. For the opposition to provide a tougher competition, starting a campaign on discrepancies in the accountability drive and the struggling economy is the only real option, though what they hope to accomplish is still unclear.