Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan this week faces the toughest test since coming to power in 2018, with parliament poised to vote on a no-confidence motion against him.
An alliance of opposition parties filed the motion against Khan this month, saying he had lost his parliamentary majority after more than a dozen defections from his party, raising the risk of political turmoil in the weapons-owning South Asian country. nuclear.
Under the Constitution, the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament is required to convene the session 14 days after receiving the motion, which would fall on Monday.
But a statement announced that the date had been pushed back to Friday (25) because of a conference of Islamic countries in Islamabad scheduled for March 23.
Former cricket champion, Khan was elected prime minister in August 2018, after a campaign marked by alleged manipulations carried out by the Pakistani army, the protagonist of the country’s politics, which has already undergone several coups d’état.
Now the opposition accuses Khan of mismanaging the economy and foreign policy, something he denies. No Pakistani prime minister has completed his term to date.
Khan appealed to lawmakers who switched sides to return to the ruling party. “Go back, you will be forgiven,” he said at a public event in northwest Pakistan. “As a father forgives his children.”
He urged the public to show support for his post by holding a “1 million man” rally in Islamabad on March 27.
The loss of allies left Khan with about a dozen seats short of the minimum needed for a majority (172). The opposition commands a total of 163 seats in the lower house, but can build a majority if most defectors actually join their ranks through a vote of no confidence.
Oppositionists and political analysts also say the prime minister has fallen out with Pakistan’s top military, whose support is critical for any party to come to power. Khan and the military deny it.
