Two more lawmakers join opposition ahead of no-confidence vote in Pakistan

Two more Members of National Assembly (MNAs) have joined hands with the opposition ahead of the no-confidence motion in Pakistan amid news that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has agreed to the demands of other allies like the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) and PML (Q) to save the government.

PTI lawmaker and parliamentary secretary Asim Nazir has tendered his resignation from the party and joined the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), while an independent MNA from Balochistan named Aslam Bhootani had also decided to vote against the ruling party during the no-confidence motion. As per media reports he has been in constant touch with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari.

Political analysts and experts believe that with these developments, the strength of the opposition camp has now gone up to 170 and they just need two more votes to defeat the PTI government during the no-confidence motion. In the last two days, the opposition was successful in getting the support of nine members from the PTI camp including federal minister Tariq Bashir Cheema and PTI ally Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) having five members in the national assembly.

In last-minute damage control, Prime Minister Imran Khan is also reaching out to the allies with back to back meetings with PML-Q and MQM (Pakistan) where it was decided that the chief minister of Punjab from PTI Usman Buzdar will be removed and PML-Q leader Chaudhary Pervaiz Elah will become the chief minister of Punjab. Likewise, many demands of MQM (Pakistan) which had seven members in the national assembly are also agreed upon by the PTI.

In the 342-member National Assembly of Pakistan, the majority mark is 172.