ISLAMABAD: The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has said that the lowest voter turnout in Pakistan’s 12th general election was from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Islamabad Capital Territory saw the highest number of voters.
According to a report by election watchdog, 60.6 million voters exercised their right to vote on February 8. “Nearly 5.8 million more people voted in general elections 2024, as compared to 2018 when 54.8 million had cast their votes,” FAFEN said.
The report stated that despite an increase in voters, the turnout dipped from 52.1 per cent in 2018 to 47.6pc in 2024, primarily due to an increase in the number of registered voters from 106 million in 2018 to 128.6 million in 2024.
“In addition, harsh winter in parts of the country, fears of violence and terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan as well as uncertainty about the conduct of elections may have also adversely affected the turnout,” it added.
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The Fafen report is based on the analysis of Form 47 of the 264 National Assembly constituencies published on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) website.
KP records lowest turnout
According to the report, the regional disaggregation of voter turnout for National Assembly constituencies shows a varied pattern with the lowest turnout in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the highest in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).The turnout in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declined from 44 percent in 2018 to 39.5 percent in 2024, in ICT from 58.3 percent to 54.2 percent, in Punjab from 56.8 percent to 51.6 percent, in Sindh from 47.2 percent to 43.7 percent and in Balochistan from 45.3 percent to 42.9 percent.
While overall turnout declined by 4.5 percentage points, the highest decline was in Punjab where turnout dropped by 5.2 percentage points, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (4.5), ICT (4.1), Sindh (3.5) and Balochistan (2.4).
All major cities record decline
Meanwhile, the FAFEN reported, the decline in turnout as compared to 2018 was a ubiquitous phenomenon across major cities including the provincial capitals Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi.
“Although the cumulative turnout of all 22 Karachi constituencies saw a declining trend, three Karachi districts namely Korangi, Karachi West (including newly carved out district Kemari) and Karachi Central registered a slight increase in the turnout while Malir, Karachi South and Karachi East recorded a decline,” it stated.
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