Out! After day-long drama, Imran loses midnight vote

174 Legislators Out Of 342 Back Dismissal

- Omer Farooq Khan

Islamabad: Pakistan PM Imran Khan was ousted from government an hour past midnight on Saturday in a no-confidence vote that saw the opposition seal the deal with 174 votes in the 342-member National Assembly, two more than required to cut short the Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf's term at four years.

The country had been staring down a political precipice all day as the National Assembly was adjourned four times in the run-up to the Supreme Court-mandated no-trust vote before Speaker Asad Qaiser and his deputy Qasim Suri resigned amid high drama, refusing to take part in the “foreign conspiracy” to oust the government.

By the time PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq was nominated by the speaker to chair the session post-midnight and complete what opposition lawmakers had been clamouring for since morning, the country had traversed the full cycle of a defiant PM unwilling to throw in the towel, a judiciary determined to ensure its writ is followed and a polity straining at the constitutional leash.

Before announcing his resignation, Speaker Qaiser said he had received “important documents” from the cabinet that the leader of the opposition and the Chief Justice of Pakistan ought to see.