Senators

Senators are political representatives in the Senate, which is the upper house of the Legislature of Pakistan. They discuss proposed laws and vote on them like other representatives do, but Senators may have different powers than those in the National Assembly of Pakistan. The way they are chosen is also different:

In Pakistan, the Senate consists of 104 members. Election to fill seats in the Senate allocated to each Province shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The Senate is not subject to dissolution but the term of its members is six years. Half of the Senate members retire after every three years and new ones are elected to replace them.

The role of a Senator is to:

• Represent the views of their state in the Senate
• Scrutinize the work of the Government
• Introduce and debate legislation
• Work on Senate Committees to analyse information from community organisations, lobby groups and members of the public on specific issues or legislation
• Present petitions; and,
• Make recommendations on the Financial Bill