Pakistan's upper house of Parliament is set to hold elections on Saturday as 52 of its 104 senators complete their six-year terms on March 11. Polling will be held in the four provincial assemblies and the national assembly on March 3, 2018.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which currently has the highest number of lawmakers in the Senate, will undoubtedly be the biggest loser as 18 of its senators retire this month.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which will be left with 17 senators as its lawmakers vacate nine seats, will be looking forward to benefit from the polls. Its main rival, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), will look to gain the most from the polls.
Use the drop-down menu below to look at the current party position in the Senate, or the number of outgoing or remaining lawmakers from each party in the Senate.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, four senators will be elected on general seats from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, 11 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan each, and 12 each from Sindh and Punjab.
Islamabad, too, will elect two senators.
The Senate elections depend on the party positions in the provincial assemblies as well as the National Assembly.
While the total term for a senator is six years, half of the Senate retires after every three years.
The four provincial assemblies vote for their representatives, whereas the FATA senators are elected by the MNAs from the tribal areas and the Islamabad senators by the National Assembly.
But who are the candidates in the race for these 52 seats?
Hover over the circles below to read details of individual candidates. Click the arrows on the right to move through the slides, or play with the control box to analyse the data yourself. Interactive best viewed on a desktop computer.
PLEASE NOTE: On February 22, the Election Commission of Pakistan declared PML-N nominees as independent candidates in the Senate elections. Although contesting as independents, these have been marked as PML-N in the above data interactive for better understanding.
— Designed and developed by Sajjad Haider. Data courtesy: Election Commission of Pakistan
