By Mahnoor
Makhdoom
BEIJING: China on Monday congratulated Sadiq Sanjrani on his successful re-election as chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, the upper house of the parliament.
“We congratulate Mr Sanjrani on his successful re-election and we believe the Senate of Pakistan will continue to develop our friendly exchanges and cooperation, and contribute to this cause,” Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said during his regular briefing held here at the International Press Center.
He remarked that this year marks the 70th anniversary of China, Pakistan diplomatic relations, adding, “We will work with Pakistan to promote our exchanges and cooperation and promote our all weather strategic cooperative partnership, and strive for further progress of our partnership.”
Senator Sadiq Sanjrani, the candidate from the ruling coalition was re-elected as the chairman of the Senate on Friday.
Sanjrani secured 48 votes in the election, defeating the opposition’s candidate for the position Yousaf Raza Gillani, who got 42 votes. He will now remain as the chairman for another three years.
Earlier, the Senate session started at 10am on Friday with oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected lawmakers, while the process of voting completed shortly before 5pm, after which the counting would begin.
The PTI regime and the Opposition-led PDM had locked horns for the Senate’s chairman and deputy chairman posts, following jibes between the two sides, controversies, and secretly-made videos. The polls were conducted by the Senate Secretariat officials.
Almost 10 days ago during the Senate Elections 2021, the PDM’s Yousaf Raza Gillani had emerged the victor from his Islamabad seat, beating Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh — associated with the ruling PTI — in what was arguably the most-watched contest.
Gillani had bagged 169 votes, whereas Shaikh got 164. One vote had not been cast.
