A no-confidence motion against Imran Khan of the PTI occurred on 10 April 2022 and led to his removal as the prime minister of Pakistan, as opposition parties joined forces to present the motion, which the majority passed in the National Assembly. The next day, on 11 April, Shehbaz Sharif of the PML(N) was elected prime minister by the assembly. Khan became the first prime minister in Pakistan to lose a vote of no-confidence.
The decision to file a no-confidence motion against sitting prime minister Imran Khan was taken at a summit of the opposition parties, united under the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance. In the leadup to the no-confidence motion, Khan's PTI also faced defections from some lawmakers within its own ranks, which emboldened the opposition's move to file the motion. On 8 March 2022, representatives of opposition parties filed the motion against Khan in the National Assembly, seeking to remove him from office, while accusing his alleged hybrid regime of poor governance, political victimisation of opponents, and mismanaging the economy and foreign policy. It is alleged that these factors also contributed to Khan's falling out with Pakistan's military establishment, which had remained a key backer of his government.
During parliamentary proceedings, on 3 April, deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri dismissed the motion on grounds of "foreign interference", while Khan dissolved the National Assembly through president Arif Alvi, causing a constitutional crisis. The Supreme Court ruled that the deputy speaker's dismissal of the motion and the dissolution of the assembly to be unconstitutional, allowing the vote to proceed. On 10 April the no-confidence motion passed with a majority of 174 votes (out of 342), which resulted in Khan losing the confidence of the house and ceasing to hold the office of prime minister. The next day, Shehbaz Sharif was elected unopposed by the National Assembly to replace Khan as prime minister. Sharif's cabinet, comprising 37 members, took oath on 19 April.
Khan initially accused the United States of seeking to oust his government, claiming a diplomatic cable as proof, however later instead claimed Army Chief General Bajwa to be responsible, not the United States.
Background
Under Article 58 of the constitution of Pakistan, a Prime Minister ceases to hold office if the majority of members of the National Assembly, equating to 172 members (out of 342), vote in favour of no-confidence. A successful vote means that cabinet would also be dissolved. When the motion is successful, a new prime minister is elected by the house, for which both the ruling party and opposition usually submit nomination papers of their chosen candidates.
At the time of the motion of no confidence, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the ruling party led by the prime minister, had a centrist coalition government, with 176 members on the treasury seats, while the combined number of opposition seats stood at 162. The total votes required to remove the prime minister are 172. Once a no-confidence motion is submitted, the Speaker must call the house to order within two weeks, and voting must take place on the motion within one week after the house is called in order.
No prime minister in Pakistan has previously been removed through a motion of no-confidence. A vote of no confidence against the premier has been tabled on two occasions before. In 1989, Benazir Bhutto survived a vote of no confidence. In 2006, Shaukat Aziz also survived a motion against him when the opposition was able to muster only 136 votes, short of the required simple majority of 172.
On 11 February 2022, Fazal-ur-Rehman, president of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, announced his intent to bring a vote of no confidence. The announcement came after a meeting of PDM's parliamentary parties. The opposition parties also decided to contact the incumbent government allies to convince them to join the vote of no confidence. The announcement came after the Pakistan Peoples Party, led by former president Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, met Pakistan Muslim League (N)'s Shehbaz Sharif, who is Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, along with his niece and daughter of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz.
In response, the federal Minister for Information, Fawad Chaudhry, accused the opposition of corruption and termed the opposition's no-confidence move a ploy to turn attention away from corruption cases that many of the opposition leaders were facing due to the charges levied against them by the National Accountability Bureau.
Vote of no-confidence Based largely on the Westminster system of legislature, the prime minister commands confidence of the majority of the lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly, under clause (2A) of Article 91 of the Constitution.
The constitution of Pakistan allows for the removal of an incumbent prime minister if a no-confidence motion gains a simple majority. If parliament is not in session, opposition parties must also requisition the Speaker of the National Assembly to summon a session; once the requisition is submitted, the speaker has a maximum of 14 days to summon the session. Once the session is in attendance, the secretary of the house will circulate the motion for the no-confidence vote, which in this instance was moved to the next working day.
Once the motion is moved, according to the rules of procedure, it cannot be voted up before three days or after seven days. The vote is conducted by an open vote by division, once the session takes place, a bell is rung to inform any parliamentarians that might be outside the assembly hall; later, the gates are closed. Those in favour of no-confidence exit the hall from one side, those not in favour exit the hall from another side; once the members of the assembly begin to leave, the counting procedure starts, everyone re-enters the hall once the hall is emptied and all members have displayed their vote by exiting the hall.
After the vote is complete, if the no-confidence motion is successful, the speaker of the house informs the president of Pakistan in writing and secretary issues a notification to the gazette.
Events prior to the vote
Allegations that the military brought Imran Khan into power through rigging and managed and sustained his coalition
It was widely alleged that Imran Khan's rise to power was facilitated by the military establishment through pre‑election manipulation and post‑election coalition management. This included allegations that the military establishment had engineered defections from Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party in the lead-up to the 2018 election in order to bring Imran Khan into power. Several PML-N politicians suddenly announced plans to contest the 2018 elections as independents, leaving the party without candidates in certain seats. One PML-N candidate for the Punjab Assembly, Rana Iqbal Siraj, publicly claimed that he was tortured by personnel of an intelligence agency over his refusal to withdraw his candidacy on a PML-N ticket. Siraj later said that there had been some confusion and that it was officials of the agriculture department, not personnel of an intelligence agency, who had raided his godown. Contemporary commentaries widely viewed Siraj's retraction with suspicion of having been made under pressure. A Pakistan Today editorial said his revised explanation "looks doubtful", while PILDAT later reported that the incident led commentators in Pakistan and abroad to facetiously refer to intelligence agencies as the "agriculture department".
It was also reported that police opened criminal cases against nearly 17,000 PML-N activists during the same period. Reports of arrests and intimidation of PML-N activists and politicians fueled allegations that the military establishment was manipulating the election to bring Imran Khan into power.
Allegations included claims that after the election, the military establishment arranged for Imran Khan to get the required votes in the National Assembly to be elected Prime Minister. It was said that personelle of ISI used to make regular phone calls during Imran Khan's government to parliamentarians to "join a certain party (Imran Khan's PTI), vote a certain way" and this ended when he was ousted from power.
Khan later acknowledged that the military was heavily involved in his government and that intelligence agencies used to help him pass legislation during his tenure.
Reports that the military decided to stop propping up Imran Khan's government and claimed political neutrality
In the weeks leading up to the formal announcement of the no-confidence motion, there were growing rumors of a rupture between Imran Khan and the military establishment. These rumours had gained sufficient prominence for Khan to publicly deny that there was a rift, saying in January 2022 that the opposition's narrative of a civil-military rupture was "dead and buried" and that relations between his government and the military were "unprecedented". Subsequently, there were increasing reports in the media that the military establishment had decided to stop propping up Imran Khan's government and was now conveying to politicians that it was going politically neutral. It was believed by Khan's opposition and many independent observers that Khan did not have the numbers in the National Assembly to defeat the no-confidence motion to remain in power on his own unless the intelligence agencies continued to interfere in his favor by telling politicians to keep on supporting him.
Announcement of no-confidence motion On 6 February 2022, opposition leaders Shehbaz Sharif (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto (PPP) discussed "legal, constitutional and parliamentary options" to oust the PTI government. These included proposing a motion of no-confidence against Federal and Punjab governments, with the latter to "test the waters". Dawn reported that the PPP hoped that the PML(Q) and the Jahangir Tareen group of PTI (~8 MNAs and ~30 Punjab MPAs) could be swayed against the provincial government of Punjab and was "reportedly in contact" with Tareen. However two days later the PML-N's central executive committee remained undecided on pursuing a no-confidence motion.
On 11 February 2022, the opposition parties agreed to formally submit a no-confidence motion in parliament. It was announced by PDM leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also said that the PDM would approach the allied parties of the PTI-led government to try and end their coalition with it. This came after several opposition leaders said they had been deliberating on a no-confidence motion.
Opposition demand for military establishment's neutrality On February 26, 2022, Bilawal Bhutto, the leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, claimed that if the military establishment remained neutral during the vote of no confidence, Imran Khan's government would not be able to survive.
Imran Khan's Demand for the military establishment's lack of neutrality On March 11, 2022, Imran Khan called for the military to support him, arguing that animals cannot distinguish between good and evil, whereas humans can, and hence only animals are neutral. This statement came in the backdrop of reports that the military establishment had decided to stop artificially propping up Imran Khan's government and was now claiming that it was becoming politically neutral from now on. See also reports of the military's claimed political neutrality.
Imran Khan's later admission about establishment help during his rule In a later statement on July 16, 2022, Imran Khan admitted that the establishment was heavily involved in his government, such as helping him bring parliamentarians to pass bills during his time in office.
Parliament Lodges incident