Pakistan: PM Khan loses no-confidence vote

Pakistan’s parliament has ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan. A majority of MPs voted against the former cricket star in a vote of no confidence. The opposition accuses him of economic incompetence.

Pakistan’s parliament has voted no confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan. In a vote of no confidence, 174 out of 342 MPs voted against the former cricket star, a speaker of parliament announced. Supporters of the governing parties had previously left the hall. Khan is the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to be ousted by a vote of no confidence.

Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif thanked supporters for their fight. “Pakistan will rebuild this unity,” said Sharif. The South Asian country had been waiting eagerly for the vote since the morning hours. The Supreme Court ordered the planned vote on Thursday after it was canceled almost a week ago due to alleged unconstitutionality. The subsequent dissolution of parliament by President Arif Alvi was also reversed.

Accusation: Bad governance and incompetence

The alliance of opposition politicians driving the no-confidence vote accuses Khan of poor governance and incompetence on economic issues. Most recently, the prices for food, petrol or gas in the South Asian nuclear power with around 220 million inhabitants had risen massively. The prime minister was thwarted by the corona pandemic, which brought the country a massive economic crisis.

Instead of leading the country out of its misery, Khan recently had to meet the strict requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with new taxes and tax increases in order to get funds again.

Observers feared a military coup

Khan only had a slim majority in parliament. Pakistan had been ruled for more than half of its existence by the military, which had taken power four times. Some observers expressed fears that a prolonged standoff could force it to intervene.

Others thought this unlikely. In fact, the army would prefer it if civilians took the blame for the current economic misery, wrote Pakistan expert Michael Kugelman in Foreign Policy.