Imran Khan faces crunch confidence vote after senate race defeat

Imran Khan on Saturday faces the biggest test yet of his nearly three-year premiership in a crunch confidence vote after losing a senate race.

The former cricket star has told his ruling coalition to back him or he will return to opposition, after the surprise defeat of his party's key candidate in upper house elections.

His Movement for Justice party on Friday said the cabinet would be dismissed and a new prime minister elected if the 68-year-old prime minister lost the vote.

The surprise election of former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ahead of Mr Khan's finance minister, Abdul Hafiz Sheikh, precipitated Mr Khan's biggest crisis since he won power in 2018.

Mr Khan accused his own parliamentarians of succumbing to the very corruption he has vowed to stamp out, claiming 15 or 16 "sold" their vote for opposition bribes. A court ruling before the vote that the election would be a secret ballot has meant the rebels could not be identified.

"This is your democratic right ... just raise your hands that you don't have confidence and I will go into the opposition [benches]," the prime minister told supporters during a televised speech to the nation.

Though Mr Khan improved his standing in the 100-member Senate, the defeat of a key ally and an apparent rebellion by his own party has energised the opposition.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif, daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said Mr Khan had “suffered a humiliating defeat [and] his members expressed a lack of confidence in him and voted against him".

Mr Khan swept to power in July 2018 on an anti-corruption platform vowing to stamp out the political graft of leaders like Mr Sharif. His opponents alleged his victory was orchestrated by the country's generals, who have ruled the country directly or behind the scenes for much of Pakistan's history.

Mr Khan met with the Army chief and the military spy agency on Thursday. Pakistan’s spy agency has been asked to monitor the movements of Mr Khan's lawmakers to secure their votes, officials told Bloomberg.

An alliance of opposition parties has threatened to mobilise a mass march on the capital later this month the try to force Mr Khan's resignation.