Peshawar’s Sidra Eager to Cast Her Vote in February 8 Elections

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Peshawar: Sidra, a Peshawar teacher, is looking forward to voting for the first time in the general elections on February 8. This, she believes, is an important step towards actively participating in the decision-making process that will define the future government.

She emphasises the significance of women, who constitute about half of the country’s population, and highlights the pivotal role their votes will play in determining the fate of political parties.

Notably, there is a surge of enthusiasm among female voters in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ahead of the upcoming general elections. Sidra Sheraz and her sister, Samina Qaiser, young voters from Wapda Town, Nowshera, are thrilled about exercising their right to vote for the first time on February 8 after being successfully enrolled by the ECP.

“We are eagerly awaiting February 8 to cast our vote for the first time and become part of the electoral process, which is crucial in decision-making for setting the future government,” said Sidra.

“I plan to cast my first vote on the past performance records and manifestos of political parties,” she explained. She emphasised that the votes of young voters, particularly females, would wield significant influence in determining the outcome of the February 8 general elections.

“My father has supported me a lot while registering my vote with the ECP, which would help me poll my first vote on February 8 next year,” said Qasier, another young voter in Wapda Town.

“Casting of votes is a national obligation, and it is our moral duty to cast votes in large numbers and contribute to the strengthening of democracy in the country that returned after a lot of sacrifices by the democratic forces,” the young voter added.

“The role of young voters, especially females representing nearly 50 percent of the population, would be a deciding factor in the upcoming general elections,” said AH Hilali, former Chairman of the Political Science Department at the University of Peshawar.

Hilali said leaders of all mainstream political parties were trying to get the sympathies of young voters during public addresses, and any political party that won young voters’ support would easily form the government for the next five-year term.

Under the constitution, he said that female voting was important and that the past practice of barring women from voting was no longer due to constitutional obligations.

Hilali further said that the inclusion of such a large number of new voters was a positive sign for the democracy of Pakistan, and on the other side, it added an extra responsibility for the political leaders to be very careful in their public speeches.

He said blame games, indecent language, and character assassination should be avoided in public address, and issue-based politics, including the solution of unemployment, poverty, and illiteracy, would help attract young voters.

Dr Hilali said that the electioneering process would heat up in the next few weeks as the election date became closer and urged the entire nation to unite for the general election to carry the ship of democracy to a safe shore.

Pakistan’s Voter Hits New Heights

ECP statistics disclosed that there were around 57.1 million youth aged between 18 and 35, making up 45 percent of those who are eligible to vote. The number of voters aged 36 to 45 comes to 27.79 million (21.88%), and the two age groups comprise 84.81 million voters, or two-thirds of the total 127 million voters in Pakistan.

The total number of registered voters in Pakistan increased from 106 million in 2018 to 127 million in 2023. This is an increase of 21 million voters (19.81%). The largest increase in registered voters was in Punjab, where the number of voters increased by 13.09 million (22.10%). The smallest increase in registered voters was in Balochistan, where the number of voters increased by 0.00 million (0.00%).

The gender gap among voters has also narrowed in recent years. In 2018, there were 12.49 million more male voters than female voters. However, this gap has shrunk to 10.04 million in 2023. This is because the number of female voters has increased by 11.74 million (25.12%) since 2018. The number of male voters has only increased by 9.28 million (15.73%) since 2018.

These are just some of the key findings from the ECP’s data on registered voters in Pakistan. The data also shows that there is a significant variation in the number of registered voters between provinces. For example, Punjab has the highest number of registered voters, while Balochistan has the lowest number of registered voters.

Overall, the ECP’s data shows that there has been a significant increase in the number of registered voters in Pakistan in recent years. This is a positive development, as it means that more people are able to participate in the democratic process. However, there is still more work to be done to ensure that all eligible Pakistanis are registered to vote.