Claim: Nawaz Sharif boycotted the 2024 general elections in Pakistan in an emergency press conference on 7 February 2024.
Fact: An old video clip from Nawaz Sharif’s press conference in July 2015 is being recycled to claim that it was taken right before the 2024 elections.
On 7 February 2024, an X account posing to be the Pakistan Muslim League-N’s official account shared a 16-second video clip of Nawaz Sharif with the following caption:
قائد مسلم لیگ ن جناب نواز شریف صاحب نے ہنگامی پریس کانفرنس میں کل 8 فروری کے الیکشن کا بائیکاٹ کردیا ۔تمام کارکنانِ سے اپیل ہے کہ پرامن رہے ،آئندہ کے لائحہ عمل کا اعلان پارٹی قیادت کی طرف سے جلد کیا جائے گا۔
پاکستان مسلم لیگ آفیشل
[Translation: Leader of Muslim League-N, Mr Nawaz Sharif Sahab has boycotted the 8 February elections in an emergency press conference. All workers are requested to remain peaceful, the future plan of action will be announced by the party leadership soon. Pakistan Muslim League Official]
In the clip, Sharif can be heard saying, “The APC is reiterating their principled stance, and we are in principle boycotting the elections and reiterating our decision.”
Fact or Fiction?
By reverse-image searching keyframes from the clip, we found a longer 2-minute video shared by the AP Archive on their official YouTube channel. Although the video was shared on YouTube on 21 July 2015, the description of the post says it was actually recorded on 29 November 2007.
From the time stamp 00:43 to 1:01, Nawaz Sharif is saying the same sentences as the video shared in the claim. The AP story from that day was titled “Opposition leaders announce they will boycott January elections”, published on 9 December 2007.
According to The Guardian, Sharif was barred from contesting the election on 8 January 2007 and the All Parties Conference (APC) had boycotted the elections due to General Pervez Musharraf’s control of the democratic process.
This video or announcement has nothing to do with the 2024 general elections. Soch Fact Check has also fact-checked another claim regarding PMLN boycotting the election here.
Virality
The post was viewed 225,900 times and received over 7000 interactions on X. It was also shared here, and here on the platform.
Conclusion: An old video clip from Nawaz Sharif’s press conference in July 2015 is being recycled to claim that it is for the 2024 elections.
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