Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will face a vote of confidence in parliament on Saturday, days after the country's ruling coalition lost a crucial Senate seat.
Khan volunteered to face the confidence vote after his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party's candidate was defeated in a Senate election by a former prime minister earlier this week.
The opposition candidate secured 169 votes compared to 164 for Khan's party's candidate, who is the incumbent finance minister.
The defeat means the government no longer has a majority in the parliamentary chamber that elects the prime minister.
Khan, who is midway through his five-year term, needs 172 votes in the 342-seat National Assembly to retain the confidence of the house.
PTI has 157 MPs in the lower house. Khan was backed by 176 members when elected prime minister in 2018.
Political analysts say Khan will need the backing of all his coalition partners in the confidence vote.
On Friday, the multi-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) announced that the opposition would boycott the special session. DPA
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