Pakistan’s ruling party PTI, despite gaining more seats in the recently held Senate elections, suffered a major setback when it lost the Islamabad seat on Wednesday to Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was the joint candidate of the opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). Gilani is also a former prime minister. 

With the loss, the opposition parties in Pakistan have demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan. 

“If he (the prime minister) has honor then he should himself resign (from the office). Imran Khan should submit his resignation today as the demand for his resignation is no more only the opposition’s demand but it has now become a demand of the government members as well,” Bilawal Ali Bhutto, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. 

To cover the damage, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a senior ruling party leader, and Pakistan’s foreign minister announced that Imran Khan would soon seek a vote of confidence. 

“The nation is expecting that he (PM) will resign from the office. A government whose ministers did not even know how to vote in Senate elections had no right to rule the country,” PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said. 

Out of 48 seats that were up for grabs, the ruling party won 18, PPP 8, PML-N 5.