Nawaz Sharif did not ‘accept’ 2024 election defeat in X post

Claim: Nawaz Sharif has admitted in an X post to being defeated in the 2024 general elections in Pakistan, saying he respects the public mandate and has advised his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, not to accept the chief ministership.

Fact: The post was made by an imposter account. The X handle of Nawaz Sharif’s official account is @nawazsharifmns, whereas the post in question was shared by X user @mona16111.

On 14 February 2024, an X (formerly Twitter) account named ‘Mian Nawaz Sharif’ shared the following in a now-deleted post (archive):

“I accept my defeat from both seats in election 2024. I respect public mandate. I think pmln should not form govt bcz in reality we just got 17 seats. punjab has rejected pmln. Media is responsible for my massive defeat. i request my power hungry daughter don’t accept CMship.”

The National Assembly of Pakistan convened (archive) its maiden session on 29 February 2024 despite jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI claiming the 2024 general elections were rigged. On 4 March, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was elected (archive) the country’s prime minister after beating PTI-backed candidate, Omar Ayub Khan.

2024 elections

Allegations of rigging marred the general elections in Pakistan as results were declared (archive) “more than 60 hours after voting ended”, with independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) taking lead over those fielded by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) ticket.

Despite being jailed (archive) for a total of 31 years for corruption, leaking state secrets, and an un-Islamic marriage (archive), former prime minister Imran Khan declared victory, with 93 of the 264 seats secured by his independent candidates, according to the Reuters article cited above. The party of his main opponent, PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif, got 75 seats, with the former premier, too, claiming that he won.

Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was able to secure 54 seats, while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagged 17 seats.

The PTI cried foul (archive) as the results of 18 seats “allegedly won by the party were ‘falsely changed’” and called upon its supporters to protest wherever they are in the world. One of its leaders and former federal minister, Hammad Azhar, cited Form-45s — an initial, preliminary count of votes — and went on to allege (archive) that the PML-N won only 17 seats in the National Assembly; the claim of “17 seats” went viral on social media, with hundreds of people sharing it over and over again such as here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The pre-election landscape in Pakistan was characterised by distinct circumstances for Khan and the Sharifs amidst the shadow of alleged military interference. The former, incarcerated since 5 August 2023, was consequently disqualified from contesting elections, whereas Nawaz Sharif was “once targeted by Pakistan’s military establishment” but “appeared to have won the favour of the generals for the 2024 vote”, according to one Al Jazeera report (archive).

Sharif returned (archive) to Pakistan in October 2023 after staying in London for years. He had left for the UK in 2019 on medical grounds (archive) after being handed a seven-year jail sentence over corruption charges (archive). Six years later, however, he was cleared (archive) of all charges and a lifetime ban on convicted politicians for running for office was ruled unconstitutional paving the way for Sharif to contest the 2024 elections.

Fact or Fiction?

Soch Fact Check found that the post was made by @mona16111, an account that is unrelated to Nawaz Sharif and has less than 1,500 followers.

The X handle of Nawaz Sharif’s official account is @NawazSharifMNS, which has over 1.1 million followers.

However, @mona16111 has now deleted the post and changed their username to “Mona.”

Moreover, Sharif’s last post on X is from 3 January (archive) and he has not published anything since.

Virality

The post by @mona16111 was viewed upwards of 132,200 times, as of archiving time; however, it has now been deleted.

The false post made rounds on WhatsApp as well.

Soch Fact Check found the post here on Instagram, with more than 100 likes.

Conclusion: Nawaz Sharif has not admitted to being defeated in the 2024 general elections in a post on X. The tweet in question was made by an imposter account. The official handle of Nawaz Sharif’s X account is @nawazsharifmns.

Background image in cover photo: MuhammadNawazSharifMNS

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