Islamabad: In a high-octane midnight drama, Pakistan’s embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan was voted out of power as 174 members of the country’s National Assembly went against him during the voting on the no-confidence motion. Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, has become the first sitting prime minister in the history of Pakistan to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion.
The no-trust vote was mandated after Pakistan’s Supreme Court Thursday unanimously struck down the ruling by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri on the rejection of the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan. With Imran Khan’s departure as Pakistan’s PM, the stage is clear for Leader of the Opposition and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif to be the country’s next prime minister. The National Assembly will reconvene at 2 pm (Pakistan time) on Sunday to officially elect the new prime minister.
The National Assembly convened for the no-trust motion at 10.30 am (Pakistan time) on Saturday but the proceedings were delayed multiple times. The voting began at 11.58 pm on Saturday and continued past midnight1. While Imran Khan chose to remain absent during the vote, his party lawmakers staged a walkout. The no-trust vote was finally passed with 174 lawmakers voting against the Imran Khan government in the 342-member National Assembly. Even before his government lost the no-trust vote in the National Assembly, Imran Khan vacated the PM’s residence.