One knows that something is terribly wrong when the mild-mannered turn aggressive. Something of this nature appears to have overtaken Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Normally known to be a cool if not phlegmatic character, Abbasi seems to have been so riled up by the goings on in the Senate elections that he has let fly at the Senators elected allegedly through horse-trading and the Senate Chairman and Deputy Chairman thereafter. The PM went so far as to label those elected through such skullduggery as not fit to represent Pakistan. He added that such elements that had brought disgrace to parliament should be sent packing. PM Abbasi's umbrage is understandable since the received wisdom before the election on 52 seats of the Senate was that the ruling PML-N stood to gain a majority in the upper house, based on the numbers in the provincial assemblies that constitute the electorate for Senate elections. This hope and expectation of the PML-N started unraveling with the loss of its coalition government in Balochistan on the eve of the Senate elections. That event proved the trigger for the unexpected outcome of the upper house elections, with the opposition PPP and PTI, particularly the former, emerging as the beneficiaries of the 'turn'. A hue and cry from Nawaz Sharif and other PML-N worthies ensued, but the PM had held his piece till recently. Now he has come out all guns blazing, but perhaps he has not weighed the impact and consequences of his words. When the chief executive of the country rubbishes the elections and the election of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the upper house in such strong language, he delegitimizes the Senate and its top office holders. This can have devastatingly destabilizing consequences in the run up to the general elections and after. Whatever one's misgivings about the sleight of hand that appears to have been at work in the Senate elections, the PM's rubbishing of the whole process would raise new difficulties in the days ahead. One of those difficulties will manifest itself when the treasury and opposition have to sit together to agree the name of the caretaker PM to conduct the general elections under a neutral administration. With the PPP's newly-appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman and the PTI Senators getting ready to move a privilege motion in the Senate against the PM if he does not apologize for his remarks, the stage seems set for anything but a smooth process of agreeing on an interim government. Other unforeseen consequences could include the whole democratic edifice being shaken to its roots.
While it is understandable that PM Abbasi and the PML-N are bitterly disappointed and angry at the 'sure fire' upper house slipping from their grasp, and despite the allegations of horse-trading as perhaps the only logical explanation for the unexpected result, the PM and the PML-N have the most to lose in the event of the gulf between the treasury and opposition widening to the point of near-breakdown. All indicators point to the PML-N still being strongly placed to come out a winner in the general elections, a prize far greater than the loss of a majority in the Senate and the subsequent top slots of the upper house. The last thing in favour of the PML-N at this point would be any disruption to the smooth build up to the general elections, including the possible shadow now cast over the government-opposition parleys on deciding on the interim government. Angst and anger aside, PM Abbasi needs to take a deep breath, swallow his and his party's disappointment, and focus on the looming general polls to vindicate what he claims is the people's rejection of Senators and their Chairman and Deputy Chairman's elections through allegedly crooked means.