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Sunday, April 3, 2022

Pakistan: Imran Khan dissolves parliament after surviving no-confidence vote

Information minister Farrukh Habib also confirmed that the assembly had been dissolved and elections would be held in the next 90 days.

• April 3, 2022
Imran Khan
Imran Khan [Photo credit: Al Jazeera]

President Pakistan Arif Alvi has approved the dissolution of the country’s national assembly, following the advice of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

In a televised address on state TV, Mr Khan announced that an interim government should be formed to hold fresh elections, claiming there had been unacceptable interference in Pakistan’s democratic institutions. 

“I have sent advice to the president to dissolve the assemblies… We will go to the public and hold elections and let the nation decide,” Mr Khan said. “When the advice reaches the president, assemblies will be dissolved, followed by setting up a caretaker government.”

Mr Khan’s special assistant Shahbaz Gill confirmed that the assembly had been dissolved in a tweet.

“The assembly is broken. Now EVM machines and overseas Pakistanis will have elections on their vote. Because the Assembly has passed these laws. Now there can be no election without it,” Mr Gill said on Sunday

Information minister Farrukh Habib also confirmed that the assembly had been dissolved and elections would be held in the next 90 days.

On Sunday, Pakistan’s parliament voted on a motion seeking to remove Mr Khan from power. The opposition led the no-confidence motion, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father, former President Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

The motion faced opposition from the National Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who rejected voting on the no-confidence motion against Mr Khan, calling it “unconstitutional”.

In an interview on Friday, Mr Khan said he is willing to call early elections if he survives the no-confidence vote, adding that he won’t resign if he loses the vote.

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