Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan won the vote of confidence in the National Assembly on Saturday in a call to boycott opposition parties.
Prime Minister Khan managed to secure 178 votes in the lower house of parliament, which has 342 members, in an extraordinary session called on the direction of President Arif Alvi. A total of 172 votes was needed for a simple majority.
The 68-year-old cricketer-turned-politician had decided to vote confidence in the lower house of parliament after his party suffered an embarrassing defeat in the hotly contested senatorial election.
The 11-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Opposition is boycotting the voting process demanding that the prime minister resign after the electoral debacle.
The ruling coalition had 181 members but after the resignation of one of its legislators, Faisal Vowda, its membership was reduced to 180. The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had 157 members in the AN but following Vowda’s resignation, it now has 156 members.
The opposition coalition has 160 members in the House. One seat was vacant.
The ruling party’s allies include seven from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), five each from the Pakistani Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), three from the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and one each of the AML and the JWP.