Pakistan lost the IPU election faced a major setback_ Portugal Wins Huge

Pakistan faced a major setback as it lost the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) elections during the ongoing virtual session of the Governing Council of the IPU on Monday_ November 2. Pakistani Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani lost to Portuguese Member of Parliament Duarte Pacheco. The Portuguese leader was elected as the President of the IPU for a 3-year term after he defeated candidates from Pakistan_ Uzbekistan (Akmal Saidov_ First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber) and Canada (Salma Ataullahjan_ Senator). Pacheco got 222 votes_ much above the absolute majority of 198 votes_ while the Pakistani candidate received only 52 votes. The elections were held securely through the online medium. Sanjrani had widely canvassed for votes and had even travelled to a few countries for campaigning ahead of the elections. He also tried to contact the other three candidates_ however_ could not even get a response. Currently_ the 206th session of the Governing Council of the IPU is being held virtually from November 1 to 4. The main goal of the session was to elect the next IPU President and to hold discussions and take decisions on pressing issues relating to the functioning of the organisation including the programme of work for 2021 and the adoption of the IPU budget. IPU Presidents are elected for three years only by the Governing Council_ which is the administrative and decision-making body. In order to elect the President a general practice of rotation is followed in the geopolitical groups. According to the Policy of geographical rotation_ the next President should be from the Twelve Plus Group_ which comprises 47 member countries. This year the Twelve Plus group had recommended the Portuguese candidate by a majority of 60:10 while rejecting the Pakistani-origin Canadian candidate Ataullahjan. Challenging the generally observed geographical rotation policy_ Sanjrani also put forth his candidature however_ he could not garner support within the Governing Council. Meanwhile_ the Indian delegation was led by Speaker of Lok Sabha Shri Om Birla. Lok Sabha MP Poonamben Maadam and Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta cast their votes through a secure online voting mechanism. Founded in 1889_ the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)_ is headquartered in Geneva. Currently_ IPU comprises 179 national Member Parliaments and 13 regional parliamentary bodies.