With the parliament dissolved just hours after the deputy speaker declined to accept a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday, Pakistan is now all set to go to the polls within 90 days.
The development caps weeks of machinations by the opposition to unravel a tenuous coalition Khan had built around his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to become premier four years ago. Imran Khan blames the US for the ongoing political chaos.
Let’s take a look at how things evolved to massively threaten the political career of the cricketer-turned-politician.
What went wrong
Critics of Khan, 69, say he has fallen out with the country's powerful military, whose support is critical for any party to attain, and remain in, power in the way the PTI did four years ago.
In October 2021, Khan and the army chief General Qamar Bajwa engaged in an extraordinary and weeks-long public standoff over the replacement of the country’s top spy, then Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence (DG ISI) Gen Faiz Hameed, who Khan wanted to continue as spy chief.
Khan lost that battle against Bajwa, and Hameed was replaced as DG ISI. But the political reverberations from that standoff have been intense.
However, speculation on this front has been denied by both Khan and the military.
Pakistan was scheduled to hold a general election in 2023.
The opposition
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) consists of major parties like the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of former prime ministers, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.
The PDM also includes the Awami National Party and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam faction led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
More worryingly for Khan, the “opposition” now includes members of his own party.
According to news agency PTI, Raja Riaz, one of the lawmakers who threatened to vote against the prime minister, told Geo News Khan had failed to control inflation.
Another PTI parliamentarian, Noor Alam Khan, reportedly told Samaa News of multiple grievances not addressed by the government.
The lawmaker cited a string of reasons for his dissatisfaction with Khan’s government: economic mismanagement, alleged corruption among senior government ministers, failure to address problems at the constituency level and, most recently, Khan’s aggressive rhetoric against party dissidents.
“This guy is calling us names, inciting violence against us, calling us petty bribe takers,” Noor Alam said of the prime minister. “It’s unbelievable.”
The motion
On March 8, around 100 lawmakers from the PML-N and PP signed and submitted a no-confidence motion. They alleged Khan's government was responsible for the economic crisis and spiraling inflation.
It came after a press conference by the top leadership of the opposition parties. Reacting to the development, PTI leaders and federal ministers vowed to thwart the opposition’s attempt to oust Khan.
Khan accused former premier Nawaz Sharif and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari of hatching a conspiracy funded and supported by the “foreign forces".
The numbers game
In the 342-member assembly, the opposition needs 272 votes to remove Imran Khan.
The PTI has 155 members and needs at least 172 on its side to remain in power. The party also has the support of 23 members belonging to at least six different parties, PTI reported.
Opposition leaders contend the PDM has the support of around 160 lawmakers as well as the backing of 40 MPs, including dissidents from the PTI – more than the magic number.
