Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan wins vote of confidence

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan won a vote of confidence in parliament on Saturday, the speaker announced after the vote, backed by 178 lawmakers in the 342-member National Assembly.

All 160 members of the opposition had boycotted the vote.

PTI has 157 MPs in the lower house. Khan was backed by 176 members when elected prime minister in 2018.

“I thank my allied parties, who have always stood behind me during every test,” Khan said in his address to the parliamentarians.

He said lawmakers from his party were perturbed after what had happened in the recent Senate elections but had emerged as a strong team for Saturday’s vote.

Khan volunteered to face the confidence vote after his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party’s candidate was defeated in a Senate election by a former prime minister earlier this week.

The opposition candidate secured 169 votes compared to 164 for the candidate from Khan’s party, who is the incumbent finance minister.

The defeat means the government no longer has a majority in the parliamentary chamber that elects the prime minister.

Khan, who is midway through his five-year term, came to power in national elections since tainted by allegations that the country’s powerful military supported him.

Pakistan’s generals have ruled the country for decades and are accused of manoeuvring to hand-pick civilian governments to block the way of democratic leaders.

Though Khan denies benefiting from military support, he turned to the army after losing the key senate election.

Khan held a meeting with army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the head of the country’s spy agency on Thursday, which many believe was linked to the confidence vote.

Khan is now the second Pakistani prime minister who has volunteered to face a confidence vote after former premier Nawaz Sharif in 1993.

The special session of the parliament was attended by provincial chief ministers, governors and other senior government officials.

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a multi-party opposition alliance, has announced that a new round of anti-government rallies will start from March 26.

Outside the parliament building, a large number of PTI workers gathered to celebrate Khan’s victory.

A few hours ahead of the vote, some of the workers tried to attack senior leaders from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).