Pakistan PM Khan Pressured to Quit as Party Members Desert Him

ByKhalid Qayum and Faseeh Mangi

Local media said Khan has lost his slim majority in Parliament, Imran Khan faces vote of no confidence later this month.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed to fight “till the last ball” as more lawmakers from his ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party deserted him, signaling it will be hard for him to survive a no-confidence vote expected this month.

Some Khan loyalists demanded his resignation, claiming the 70-year-old leader lost the slim parliamentary majority he enjoyed for more than three years. His government vowed to stand firm, with Information minister Fawad Chaudhry telling a news conference late Thursday that opposition leaders had bribed lawmakers to defect -- a charge denied by Khan’s opponents.

The prime minister said he won’t resign and “he will fight till the last ball and defeat the no-confidence vote,” Chaudhry said. Khan told the speaker of the National Assembly to convene parliament’s lower house on March 21, with a vote on whether he should stay on as leader to be held on March 28, local Geo TV said.

Loyalists Desert Pakistan’s PM Khan as Rivals Mount Pressure

Pakistan’s benchmark stock index fell as much as 1.3% on Friday. The market is under pressure as political situation heats up, said Qasim Shah, head of international sales at JS Global Capital Ltd. In Karachi.

The latest development comes two days after a key government ally, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, warned the prime minister was fast losing allies and it would be difficult for him to complete his five-year term ending August 2023. Elahi’s Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid party supports Khan with five members in the lower house.Opposition parties blame the prime minister for mismanaging the economy and foreign policy, particularly through hurting ties with the U.S. Local media have also suggested Khan may have lost the support of Pakistan’s military, which has ruled the country for almost half its history and plays a key role behind the scenes even during times of democratically elected governments.

Khan has ruled with a majority of seven members after winning a vote of confidence in parliament last year with 179 members supporting him in the 342-member National Assembly. The opposition has about 162 lawmakers, and needs roughly 10 more votes to topple Khan.

“We are more than 24 members who will vote against Khan according to our conscience,” Raja Riaz, a senior lawmaker in Khan’s ruling party, said on Dunya TV channel Thursday night.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-18/pakistan-pm-khan-pressured-to-quit-as-party-members-desert-him