The announcement of the result of the vote came shortly before 1 a.m. local time after multiple adjournments in the lower house provoked by members of Khan’s party, who said there was a foreign conspiracy to oust the cricket star who became a politician.
Opposition parties were able to secure 174 votes in the 342-member House of Representatives to support the motion of censure, said President Ayaz Sadik, making it the majority. There were only a few lawmakers in Hahn’s ruling party present at the hearing.
The vote came after the country’s powerful army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, met with Khan, two sources said, as criticism mounted for delaying the parliamentary process. Opposition leader Sehbaz Sharif is the pioneer in leading the nation of 220 million nuclear weapons, where the military has ruled half its history.
A security convoy carrying Khan was spotted in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on Saturday. (Aamir Qureshi / AFP / Getty Images)
Sehbaz Sharif, 70, the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has a reputation for being an effective manager.
Khan, 69, came to power in 2018 with the support of the military, but recently lost his parliamentary majority when the Allies resigned from his coalition government. There were also indications that he had lost military support, analysts said.
Opposition parties say they have failed to revive an economy hit by COVID-19 or to deliver on its promise to make Pakistan a nation free of corruption, prosperous and respected on the world stage.
His ouster extends Pakistan’s unwanted record of political instability: No prime minister has completed his full term since independence in 1947, although Khan is the first to step down by a vote of no confidence.
Crowds at a cafe in Islamabad watch a television screen on Friday as Khan delivers a speech. (Akhtar Soomro / Reuters)
