Fact-check: Did PTI dissidents vote in the motion of confidence for PM Shehbaz Sharif?
None of the estimated 22 PTI dissidents cast their vote in the trust motion won by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on April 27
Updated Friday Apr 28 2023
Politicians from the opposition, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have alleged that the prime minister secured the vote of confidence from the national assembly with the help of votes from 20 rebel PTI parliamentarians, whose vote could not be counted after a Supreme Court ruling last year.
The claim is false.
Claim
“Shehbaz Sharif has lost the majority in the vote of confidence,” Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader of the PTI wrote on Twitter, a few minutes after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif won the vote of confidence in the lower house, “20 members of the national assembly whose are affiliated with the PTI, their votes cannot be counted in favour. Thus, Shehbaz Sharif only has the support of 160 members rather than 172. Today's vote was a big loss for Shehbaz Sharif.”
The tweet has been retweeted over 10,000 times and liked more than 29,000 times, to date.
In response to the tweet, Shireen Mazari, another politician from the PTI, tweeted: “Sadly their [PTI dissidents’] vote was counted because right now there are no rules of law being followed. Just a free for all with the dark protective shadow of the handlers over them!”
Her tweet had been liked over 3,000 times, at the time of writing.
Fact
The claims are inaccurate. None of the estimated 22 PTI dissidents cast their vote in the trust motion won by PM Shehbaz on April 27.
Pakistan’s national assembly has 342 members. After the PTI resigned from the national assembly last year, there are currently 218 members of the national assembly (MNAs) in the house, of which 180 voted to repose their trust in the premier on Thursday night.
Out of the 180, 85 were from the Pakistan Muslim League-N, 58 from the Pakistan Peoples’ Party, 12 from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Pakistan, 1 from the Awami National Party, 4 from the Balochistan National Party, 5 from the Balochistan Awami Party, 1 from the Jamhoori Watan Party, 7 from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan, 4 were Independent and 3 were from the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.
This totals to 180 votes.
The 22 dissident members from the PTI did not vote on April 27.
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