Chief minister in Pakistan’s Punjab province gets vote of confidence

By Kiran Butt

LAHORE, Pakistan (AA) - The chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province won a vote of confidence in the provincial assembly early Thursday, keeping the local government led by former Prime Minister Iran Khan’s party in power.

The session, which was called three days ago, continued after midnight so that the coalition government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and Pakistan Muslim League-Q could hold the confidence vote for their already-elected Chief Minister Parvez Elahi.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan presided over the session, announcing that 186 members of the house had voted in favor of Elahi.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), which is holding power in the federal government, boycotted the session and walked out to register their protest.

Interior Minister and opposition leader Rana Sanaullah labelled the session against the constitution.

"This whole proceeding was bulldozing the vote of confidence," he said while speaking to reporters outside the Punjab Assembly.

The turmoil in Pakistan's largest province started when Imran Khan announced last year that he would dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.

To prevent the chief minister from dissolving the assembly, a coalition of opposition parties submitted a no-confidence motion against Elahi.

Punjab's governor asked the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence. The Lahore High Court (LHC) ruled that the governor had the authority to ask the chief minister to seek the trust of the house.