2004 Pakistani confidence vote

2004 Pakistani presidential election

←  1997 January 1, 2004 2007  →
702 votes in the Electoral College 352 electoral votes needed to win
Nominee Pervez Musharraf Party PML(Q) Home state Sindh Electoral vote 374 States carried 2 + ICT [a] Percentage 53.28%
A map of the results, by each chamber
President before election Pervez Musharraf Elected President Pervez Musharraf PML(Q)

A confidence vote was held by the Electoral College of Pakistan on 1 January 2004, in which Pervez Musharraf won 374 out of 702 votes. As a result, according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, he was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October, 2007. ^{[1] [2]}

Composition of the Electoral College

The Electoral College of Pakistan is formed by a joint sitting of the six leading political bodies in Pakistan:

• the Senate of Pakistan,
• the National Assembly of Pakistan,
• the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab,
• the Provincial Assembly of Sindh,
• the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan and
• the Provincial Assembly of the North-West Frontier Province

So that each province has an equal vote, all provincial assemblies are given exactly 65 votes in the electoral college. This mean that the each member of the Punjab Assembly has 65/371 = 0.175 votes, each member of the Sindh Assembly has 65/168 = 0.387 votes, each member of the NWFP Assembly has 65/124 = 0.524 votes and each member of the Balochistan Assembly has 65/65 = 1 vote. ^[3]

Results

The below table shows the results of the confidence vote by each chamber. For the four provinces, the results show the weighted votes (i.e. pro-rated to a total of 65 votes). ^{[4] [2]}

Legislature	Votes	Absent	Abstained	Against	For
Senate	100	43	0	1	56
National Assembly	342	93	58	0	191
Punjab Province	65	19.27	1.23	0	44.50
Sindh Province	65	10.45	16.25	0	38.30
North-West Frontier Province	65	14.15	35.12	0	15.73
Balochistan Province	65	36	1	0	28
Total (rounded)	702	215	112	1	374

Notes

1. Only includes the provinces where votes in favour of Musharraf were higher than votes against him, abstentions, or absent votes.

References

1. Pakistan Gives Musharraf Confidence Vote as President New York Times, 1 January 2004
2. "Musharraf wins vote of confidence". DAWN News . 2004-01-02. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
3. This system is detailed in the Constitution of Pakistan here. Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Musharraf wins vote of confidence". Business Recorder . 2004-01-02. Retrieved 2025-01-21.