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 for 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.
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.
Here’s everything that happened today in Pakistan’s National Assembly and beyond:
No-trust vote
Voting for the no-trust motion began at 10.30 am (Pakistan time) on Saturday but the proceedings were delayed multiple times. The voting began just before the change of the day and continued past midnight on Sunday.
Moments before the voting started, Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri tendered their resignation. Opposition party leader Ayaz Sadiq was asked to take over the assembly session.
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.
Opposition rejoices, Imran’s supporters stage protest
After the no-trust vote was over, opposition leaders rushed to congratulate Shehbaz Sharif in the National Assembly. The PML-N chief vowed that the “new regime would not indulge in politics of revenge”.
“I don’t want to go back to bitterness of the past. We want to forget them and move forward. We will not take revenge or do injustice; we will not send people to jail for no reason, law and justice will take its course,” Shehbaz Sharif said in his speech after the voting result was announced.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also congratulated the Assembly for passing the no-trust vote.
Meanwhile, workers of Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) turned up outside the National Assembly and staged a protest.