Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan lost the trust vote in the National Assembly in a late night vote after a high-octane drama on Saturday night.
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.
Pakistan Muslim League-N’s (PML-N) Ayaz Sadiq who chaired the session said, “174 members have recorded their votes in favour of the resolution. Consequently, the resolution of no-confidence against Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan has been passed by a majority of the National Assembly.”
The motion was taken up after Pakistan’s Supreme Court prepared to step in to enforce compliance of its April 7 order directing the holding of the vote of no-confidence, and prison vans were stationed outside the National Assembly, apparently to take away officials guilty of contempt.
With Imran Khan’s departure, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, is all set to become the next prime minister.
The National Assembly will reconvene at 2 pm 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 midnight.
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.