Minister for Law Dr Babar Awan on Monday said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani does not need to take a fresh vote of confidence from the National Assembly despite the fact that the government lost majority in the National Assembly. Talking to reporters outside Parliament House, Awan said according to sub-article 7 of the article 91 of Constitution, no one except President can ask the Prime Minister to take vote of confidence from the assembly.
"The Prime Minister does not need to take vote of confidence from National Assembly in the present situation," he said. "Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani is the Prime Minister of PPP, coalition partners, National Assembly and Pakistan," he added. Answering a question, the law minister said that majority does not matter for the government, adding that "majority does matter for those who are ruling with the support of 'turncoats' while we are running the government with our coalition partners."
He said the government wants reconciliation policy to continue owing to the challenges being faced by the country. Referring to the protest of the opposition parties over increase in prices of petroleum products, Awan said that it was a democratic right of every political party but, he added, that the nation would not tolerate the politics of the 1990s in provincial assemblies.