Impeaching Mush may not be a cakewalk for ruling coalition

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Pakistan’s ruling coalition’s bid to impeach President Pervez Musharraf could boil down to a close number game in Parliament, where the PPP and its allies are short of the two-thirds majority needed to oust him.

Despite claims by PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his ally PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif that the coalition has the numbers required to carry through an impeachment motion in a joint sitting of Parliament, political observers say the alliance is currently short of the magic figure of 295 votes.

According to constitutional provisions, the impeachment motion must have the support of 295 members in a combined House of 442 in order to succeed. The National Assembly or lower house of parliament has 342 members while the Senate or upper house has 100.

If the motion is passed by Parliament, Musharraf could have the ignominious distinction of being the first Pakistani President to be impeached.

Senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, a close aide of Sharif, today claimed that the combined strength of the coalition parties was more than 300 members.

‘‘As the proceedings go forward (and) when the details of the chargesheet (against the President) will come out, I doubt very much that any member of Parliament with conscience will find the guts to vote in favour of Musharraf,’’ he said.

Despite Iqbal’s claims, anti-Musharraf parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami and some Balochistan-based nationalist parties currently sitting in opposition benches in the Senate, have a total of 274 members 235 in the National Assembly and 39 in the Senate which is short of the required number.