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ISLAMABAD, April 27 (PTI) Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sheikh Baz Sharif received a vote of confidence in the National Assembly on Thursday, with 180 lawmakers expressing “full confidence” in his leadership, amid growing tensions between the government and the highest levels. Surprising developments emerged amidst the fierce confrontation with the judiciary.
Pakistan People’s Party chairman and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has tabled a resolution in the lower house saying that Pakistan’s National Assembly has “full confidence in Prime Minister Sharif’s leadership”.
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The resolution was supported by 180 of the 342 MPs. When Sharif was elected as the prime minister in April last year, he had secured the support of 174 lawmakers.
“Thus, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has received a vote of confidence in the National Assembly and has won the confidence of a majority of members of the National Assembly to become Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf declared to rapturous applause. Legislators’ desks.
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Afterwards, Prime Minister Sharif delivered a speech in the House of Representatives, thanking lawmakers for their trust in him.
On Monday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb refuted reports that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would seek a vote of confidence in parliament amid his battle with the top judiciary.
On Twitter, Marriyum dismissed the impression that the prime minister was vulnerable and the need to seek a vote to show he had the confidence of a majority. She said there had been no consultations on the topic, adding that no consultations were necessary.
Her tweet came after several media outlets reported that Prime Minister Sharif had decided to go to parliament to seek a new mandate.
Earlier, the National Assembly rejected the government’s bill to fund the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
The Supreme Court disapproved when it heard on April 19 that the prime minister must always have a majority in the National Assembly.
A court has ordered elections to be held in Punjab province on May 14, but the government has delayed the vote, citing economic constraints and security reasons.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been pushing for early elections in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, where until recently his Pakistan Tehreek Institut party (PTI) was in power.
PTI dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies on January 14 and 18, respectively, to force Islamabad’s ruling coalition to call early elections in the country.
Parliament and the judiciary are also at loggerheads over holding elections in the two provinces as the cash-strapped government refuses to authorize the funds to cover spending amid the economic crisis the country faces.
PTI is determined to drive polls in provincial legislatures, but the government is sticking to its stance on simultaneous elections across the country.
The National Assembly will end its five-year term in August this year.
According to the constitution, elections should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the House of Commons. That means elections must be held by mid-October. The last general election was held in July 2018.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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