Defeating his opponent with a majority number of votes, Imran Khan becomes the new Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Imran Khan won a lawmaker vote on Friday to secure Pakistan’s premiership after his Movement for Justice party pulled together a coalition majority since gaining the most seats at last month’s national elections.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chairman will take the oath of office on Saturday and become Pakistan’s 22nd prime minister.
Khan, 65, was elected by 176 votes compared to the 96 of his opposition rival Shahbaz Sharif of the PML-N. The former cricket star’s ascent became certain after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the third largest group, abstained from the vote and declined to back Sharif’s candidacy. One member of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), which contested elections under the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) banner, also abstained from voting for either candidate.
Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yusuf congratulates Imran Khan on his victory
Congratulations to the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, @ImranKhanPTI ?? pic.twitter.com/CewbVMKSv4
— Malala (@Malala) August 17, 2018
READ ALSO: TODAY Will Imran Khan Win The PM Post Or Will His Opponent?
FIRST PROMISES AS PRIME MINISTER
After galvanizing voters, particularly Pakistan’s large young electorate, Khan’s PTI has made promises to both expand social spending while attempting to fix the economy and rebuild the nation’s depleted finances. Despite forming a majority with the support of independents and several smaller parties, Khan’s ability to govern and push through reforms will continue to be tested. “Even within the PTI-led government, extensive horse-trading is likely needed to get policies passed,” Fitch Solutions said in a report last week. “We are sceptical regarding the new government’s ability to fulfill its campaign promises given its weak margin of victory and resource constraints.”
Khan’s party has already flagged that urgency is needed to deal with Pakistan’s dwindling reserves, which have dropped at the fastest pace in Asia this year, to $10.4 billion. The nation’s current-account deficit has widened by 42% to $18 billion in the year through June.
Asad Umar, a senior PTI lawmaker, and the incoming finance minister said in an interview this month that Pakistan may need more than $12 billion to plug the finance gap and a decision on where to source funds from needs to be made by September at the latest.
Many investors, analysts and politicians expect that most or part of that will come from an International Monetary Fund bailout. With Pakistan a key country along its Belt and Road trade route, China has also been providing the South Asian nation with billions of dollars in stopgap loans this year.
Those vast debts to Beijing have prompted worries from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said last month he would be watching to see if Khan’s new government uses IMF funds to pay off the opaque Chinese loans. Umar said he would bring more transparency to the more than $60 billion Belt and Road infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
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