After Imran Khan’s ouster, Pakistan’s parliament will elect a new prime minister
After Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote early Sunday, Pakistan’s parliament will choose a new prime minister on Monday.
The head of an opposition alliance that attempted to topple Mr Khan, Shahbaz Sharif, is generally predicted to win a majority of the vote.
Voting in the parliament will begin about 14:00 local time (09:00GMT).
After days of political turmoil and Supreme Court intervention, Mr Khan, 69, was voted out.
By dissolving parliament and announcing a quick election, he sought to thwart a prior attempt to bring a no-confidence resolution against him.
The country’s Supreme Court, on the other hand, upheld an opposition petition alleging that his actions were unlawful and ordered the election to proceed.
How well do we know Shahbaz Sharif?
Mr Sharif, 70, is the descendant of one of Pakistan’s most influential political families. Nawaz Sharif, his older brother, was a former three-term Prime Minister who served from 2013 to 2017.
He is the leader of the Pakistani Muslim League Nawaz, one of the country’s most powerful opposition groups (PMLN).
On Sunday, he officially declared his campaign for the top job, and he is largely expected to win.
Other opposition figures, like as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, have already expressed their support for him.
Mr Sharif is regarded as a seasoned and successful administrator, having served as the premier of Punjab, the country’s largest province, for three terms.
Following the vote, he declared “a new dawn” for Pakistan on Sunday.
However, Imran Khan, whose followers demonstrated in major cities after he was fired, continues to blame his dismissal on a “foreign plot.”
He has alleged, without proof, that his political opponents conspired with the US to depose him for his foreign policy positions on Afghanistan, Russia, and China. This has been categorically disputed by the US government. However, the assertions made by the former international cricketer stoked anti-American feeling among many of his fans.
He claimed on Twitter that the throngs he saw were among the largest in Pakistan’s history, a claim that has yet to be objectively substantiated.
Imran Khan was deposed in what manner?
After months of frustration with Mr Khan’s economic management and a breakdown in ties with Pakistan’s powerful military, his opponents sensed a chance to strike.
Mr Sharif joined up with other opposition legislators to gain enough votes to oust Mr Khan.
Even then, Mr Khan and his party attempted to delay the vote in parliament for hours by dismissing officials, filibustering MPs, and causing other disturbances. But, soon after midnight on Sunday, legislators in the 342-member house voted him out with a 172-vote majority.
