Pakistan's lower house of parliament has voted in favour of removing prime minister Imran Khan from office, following a nearly 14-hour stand-off between the opposition and Mr Khan's ruling party that started on Saturday morning local time.
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 Mr Khan’s ruling party present for the process.
The vote means Mr Khan, a former cricketer, will no longer hold office and the country’s lower house will now elect a new prime minister and government.
Mr Khan’s allies had blocked the no-confidence motion last week and dissolved the lower house of parliament, prompting the country’s supreme court to intervene and allow the vote to go through.
Mr Khan (69) surged to power in 2018 with the military’s support, but recently lost his parliamentary majority when allies quit his coalition government.
Opposition parties say he has failed to revive an economy battered by Covid-19 or fulfil promises to make Pakistan a corruption-free, prosperous nation respected on the world stage. – Reuters