Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was overthrown on Sunday by a motion of no confidence voted against him by the National Assembly, after several weeks of political crisis. The motion was “approved” by 174 of the 342 deputies, announced the acting speaker of the chamber, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
No Prime Minister has ever completed his term in Pakistan since the country’s independence in 1947, but Imran Khan is the first to fall on a vote of no confidence.
His successor at the head of this Islamic republic of 220 million inhabitants equipped with nuclear weapons should be Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of the Muslim League of Pakistan (PML-N).
From cricket to the Supreme Court
Imran Khan, 69, famous for leading the national cricket team, king sport in the country, to its only victory in the World Cup in 1992, and who became Prime Minister in 2018, tried everything to stay in the able.
His supporters initially refused last Sunday to submit the motion of censure to the vote and chose to dissolve the Assembly, to call early elections.
But the Supreme Court ruled the whole process unconstitutional, restored the Assembly and ordered the holding of the vote that led to the departure of Imran Khan.