Will Pakistani PM Imran Khan win vote of confidence today?

Agencies | Dubai

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbhahrain.com

Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan will take a vote of confidence from parliament on Saturday following a setback in Senate elections.

Khan will most likely win the vote of confidence today, with 179 seats in the National Assembly belonging to members of his party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, and 177 members reposing their trust in his leadership ahead of the vote.

Khan must secure at least 172 votes to prove the confidence of the 341 members’ seats.

Only a couple of MNAs could not attend a meeting with Imran Khan as they were on their way to Islamabad, said Shibli Faraz, Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator, talking to the media after the meeting of parliamentary parties of PTI and allies at the Parliament House.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will table a resolution in the House today on which voting will be held.

The resolution says: “This House reposes confidence in the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mr Imran Khan, as required under clause (7) of Article 91 of the Constitution Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of the opposition parties led by Maulana Fazalur Rehman, has decided to boycott the vote of confidence.

Despite Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf party winning the Senate elections, its prime candidate Hafeez Sheikh lost to former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of the opposing Pakistan People’s Party.