Pakistan PM Imran Khan dismissed after losing no-confidence vote

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has been unseated after losing a no-confidence vote in the parliament.

The vote came after hours of impasse that even resulted in the resignation of the speaker of the Lower House. Now, a caretaker government will lead the country until new general elections are held.

The no-confidence vote came after a nearly 14-hour standoff between the opposition and Khan's ruling party that started on Saturday morning.

According to the House Speaker, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, opposition parties were able to secure 174 votes in the 342-member house in support of the no-confidence motion, making it a majority vote. There were just a few legislators of Khan's ruling party present  for the process.

The vote means Khan will no longer hold office and the country's lower house will now elect a new prime minister and government.

Following the no-confidence vote, the acting speaker of the Pakistani parliament's lower house said the legislature will meet on Monday to vote for a new prime minister.

Ayaz Sadiq, who was presiding over the assembly session in the absence of the ruling party members and its designated speakers,said nomination papers for candidates should be filed by 11:00 am local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif says he is almost certain to be picked to lead the nation of 220 million people after weeks of high political drama.

In order to avoid a no-confidence vote, Khan, 69, had asked the president to dissolve the parliament and called for a fresh election. Pakistan’s Supreme Court, however, ruled all his actions illegal last week, and ordered the assembly to reconvene and vote.

The top court received a slew of petitions after the deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament refused to allow a no-confidence motion brought by the joint opposition against the Khan administration.

The deputy speaker declared the motion unconstitutional, saying it is part of a plot by what he called “foreign powers” to interfere in Pakistan’s democracy. Simultaneously, President Arif Alvi dissolved the parliament on the prime minister’s advice.



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