ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has handily won a vote of confidence from the National Assembly, days after the embarrassing defeat of his ruling party’s key candidate in Senate elections. Khan on Saturday secured the votes of 178 members of the lower house of Parliament, which is comprised of 340 lawmakers. The 11-party opposition alliance — the Pakistan Democratic Movement — boycotted the assembly’s special session. Khan needed 172 votes to show a simple majority and dispel any suggestion he had lost the support of the majority of lawmakers in the National Assembly. The need for the confidence vote arose after former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in Senate elections Wednesday defeated Hafeez Sheikh, the finance minister in Khan’s Cabinet.
