Low turnout
\nThe October 16 by-elections to six constituencies of the National Assembly have been marked by a significantly low turnout that has highlighted the voters\u2019 tendency and a not-so-good track record of political parties\u2019 electoral alliances.
\nThe poll outcome shows that there seems to be a discernible pattern in voters\u2019 choice to vote for a candidate whose political platform matters little when it comes to the polling station level.
\nFor example, the Sunday\u2019s by-elections were significant from the level of political polarization and a plethora of other social and economic issues facing in the country. There were close contests on a number of seats, but the turnout rate did not come up to expectations, which should work to wake up the political elites from their deep slumber.
\nElections in the country in the past, whether they are general elections or by-polls, have recurrently had an average voter turnout ranging between 45 and 50 per cent. There have always been massive differences over voters\u2019 turnout among the electoral partners which have thrown up unexpected results.
\nIn fact, voter turnout is considered the most important for the legitimacy of democratic elections anywhere in the world, and Pakistan\u2019s elections are known for little care by the voters to go the polling stations and exercise their democratic right to a choose a representatives to the parliament.
\nIt is also crucial to determine who wins an election, whether it is because of the party\u2019s preferences or the voters\u2019 tendency, or whether other factors have influenced the outcome.
\nGoing through the election record of the country, there is a great deal of variation in the turnout across the country.
\nThe recent by-polls held amid a heightened political temperature in three provinces can by no means be termed a futile exercise, though former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan bagged six of the seven constituencies he was contesting himself, as they provide a much needed space for the political parties to review and overhaul their political agenda.
\nFor the low turnout, analysts hold the political parties responsible, as the component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) half-heartedly moved about the by-polls and failed to bring out their voters to cast votes as per their mutual understanding with other allied parties.
\nIn NA-31, Peshawar, and NA-24 Charsadda, Imran Khan faced ANP\u2019s stalwart Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and its provincial president Aimal Wali Khan, respectively, while on NA-22 Mardan, PDM\u2019s joint candidate and JUI-F leader Maulana Mohammad Qasim was fielded.
\nDespite the fact that all mainstream political parties, which have been part of the PDM, either directly took part in the election campaign or announced support to PDM\u2019s candidates, but they were in no way successful to mobilize their voters as par the party\u2019s plans. And, there the outcome was low turnout, political observers say.
\nWhile the overall ratio of balloting in Mardan was slightly higher with 32 percent and slightly better as compared to the rest of the two constituencies, the mostly unexpected outcome is feared to create distrust among the PDM allies.
\nIn Peshawar the turnout was recorded at a 28.28, while lowest turnout was recorded in Charsadda 27.27 percent, where the scion of Khudai Khidmatgar movement\u2019s founder Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, alias Bacha Khan, was contesting the first polls of his political career, and the low turnout reinforced the fact that political legacies have been losing the ground.
\nSimilarly, the outcome of by-elections in two National Assembly constituencies in Karachi including NA-237 in Malir and NA-239 in Korangi was also blamed on poor turnout.
\nIn fact, one of the major reasons associated with low turnout is that voting in the country has never been taken as a compulsion or a basic democratic right by the voters.
\nPolitical scientists and independent electoral monitoring organizations consider domestic issues and security reasons as important factors leading to a low turnout.
\nThis is obvious from the KP\u2019s by-poll results, where among 1.45 million eligible voters only over a 0.3 million turned up to cast their votes. There is much food for thought to review all factors and reasons behind the low turnout and improve the electoral scenario in the future elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Low turnout The October 16 by-elections to six constituencies of the National Assembly have been marked by a significantly low turnout that has highlighted the voters\u2019 tendency and a not-so-good track record of political parties\u2019 electoral alliances. The poll outcome shows that there seems to be a discernible pattern in voters\u2019 choice to vote for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11105,3534,11106],"class_list":{"0":"post-289911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial","7":"tag-chance","8":"tag-introspection","9":"tag-low-turnout"},"yoast_head":"\n