Islamabad: PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif becomes 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan after Imran Khan’s PTI walks out of National Assembly.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Shehbaz Sharif secured 174 votes and became the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan
- PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi gets 0 votes
- PTI members walk out of the session to elect the new prime minister.
- 174 members recorded their votes in favour of the resolution. Consequently, the resolution of no-confidence against Imran Khan.
- Pakistan National Assembly Speaker and Deputy Speaker tendered their resignations amid the high political drama in the country ahead of the no-confidence vote.
- Imran Khan tried to block a no-confidence motion last week and dissolved the lower house of parliament, but Pakistan’s top court ordered on Thursday the vote would have to be held by Saturday.
- No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office.
- Also, no prime minister in Pakistan’s history has ever been ousted through a no-confidence motion, and Khan is the third premier to face the challenge.
- The Pakistani National Assembly had a total strength of 342 members.
- Imran Khan needed 172 votes in the house of 342 to foil the bid to topple his government.
- The PTI-led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members, with Imran Khan’s PTI having 155 members, and four major allies MQM-P, PML-Q, BAP, and GDA having seven, five, five, and three members respectively.
- The opposition party had moved the no-trust motion against the PM on March 8.
- Imran Khan received a massive blow after PTI lost its key ally MQM-P. The MQM announced that it had struck a deal with the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and would support the no-trust vote.