The millennial generation

Pakistan’s young generation can affect a positive change in the politics of the country through the ballot paper. Many countries around the world are closely examining the attitudes and power of the younger generation to change politics and society. In democratic polities, the focus of political parties and intellectuals is on how to engage the younger generation into public affairs. In recent decades, the attention has turned to registering young voters and mobilising them to vote. The voter turnout of the young has increased the world over. Let us examine the potential role that the millennial generation of Pakistan might play in the next general elections.

It is for the first time that the Elections Commission of Pakistan has given us an age-wise distribution of voters. The voters in the age groups between 18-29 — the band that is universally considered as young — are 30.5 per cent or 25.76 million of the total registered votes. This is a staggeringly high number in proportion to the population. Young voters can be a powerhouse for the next general elections and can change the traditional patterns of voting, elections and party rankings.

At the pre-election stage, we are not in a position to predict what political choice young voters are likely to make, but simply bring to the attention of the citizens and political parties how the young can make the outcome of the elections unpredictable for the traditional political parties. One may dismiss young voters as unmotivated, depoliticised and perhaps, expect them to be busy playing cricket on election day rather than standing in the queues to cast their votes. But in times of such disappointments, and in view of the poor performance of democratic governments, we cannot expect the youth to play cricket that day. My assessment is that on election day, they will play the ballot.

We have examples of many countries where the youth, disappointed by the traditional political parties or ruling classes, turned the political tide by increasing the voter turnout and voting against the incumbents. But this doesn’t happen automatically; a leader or leaders and parties must devise strategies to mobilise the youth with a credible message of hope and change. I think the number of young voters in the next elections is not lost to the ruling, dynastic political parties, but they have yet to find the right message to win back the youth that appears to have become alienated.

One thing that we need to analyse further is that the youth we are talking about is not a solid group, ideologically or organisationally tied up in a single network. The young generation is divided along urban, rural lines, and further fragmented into narrow ethnic, religious and sectarian categories. All political parties have created their student organisations to affiliate and mobilise students, but more often than not, these organisations use coercive means rather than persuasive ones, and thus work against the interests of the political parties that they represent.

The big questions is, will there be a youth wave on the pattern of the youth wave of 1970 that went in favour of the Pakistan Peoples Party? It is possible. What may really mobilise the youth is a message of change, real change, and through a credible political leader whom the youth may trust. Compared with my generation that supported the PPP in 1970, the youth today is more resourceful and has the power of communication technology that will play a critical role in youth mobilisation in the elections.

The aspirations of the young are for a better tomorrow and for stability, justice, rights and economic opportunity. They can turn the political tide, depending on who they find to be offering hope and leadership that will deliver.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2013.