Pakistan PM Khan ousted in vote of no-confidence

Pakistan’s lower house of parliament on Sunday (April 9) voted in favour of removing Prime Minister Imran Khan from office, following a nearly 14-hour standoff between the opposition and Khan’s ruling party that started on Saturday morning (April 8).

Opposition parties were able to secure 174 votes in the 342-member house in support of the no-confidence motion, the house speaker said, 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.

The 69-year-old, who steered Pakistan to cricket World Cup victory in 1992, came to power in 2018 after rallying the country behind his vision of a corruption-free, prosperous nation respected on the world stage.

But the firebrand nationalist’s fame and charisma may not be enough to keep him in power. He could not deliver on all of his lofty promises and failed to avert an economic decline partly sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The opposition has said it wants early elections, but only after delivering a political defeat to Khan and passing legislation it says is required to ensure the next polls are free and fair. Pakistan’s election commission said on Thursday the earliest it could hold the ballot was October.