Youth vote: Parties’ performance and leadership key determinants

Poll says 18 to 35 age group accounts for around 48 per cent of total registered voters.

ISLAMABAD:

Young voters are likely to cast their ballots in the imminent general elections on the basis of programmes, performance and leadership of political parties, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Pattan Development Organisation (PDO).

PDO conducted the quantitative poll at Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) between April 17 and 23. The sample consisted of 929 students — 14.6 per cent of the university’s total 6,380 enrolled students.

PDO National Co-ordinator Sarwar Bari unveiled the findings at a press briefing in Islamabad on Saturday.

The poll revealed that 27 per cent of young respondents will be basing their voting decisions on party programmes, 24 per cent on party leadership and 24 per cent on party performance.

Only 14 per cent of respondents said family, language and clan would have an influence on their decision, indicating that the youth may not follow the biradari voting culture.

“Personally, I believe we are not going to see the pattern of patronage-based voting this year,” said Bari. “We are going to see new voter trends emerge.”

Of the 77 per cent of students who have said they will be voting on May 11, 51 per cent claimed they would opt for Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI).

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was supported by 20 per cent of the respondents, with 23 per cent of aspiring young voters opting for “other parties” and six per cent claiming to side with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Bari cited information from the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) which states that the 18 to 35 age group makes up for around 48 per cent — or 41.7 million votes — of the total registered voters.

“None of the parties, PTI included, have presented a clear vision for the youth in their manifestos,” said Bari.

PDO also recommended that the ECP address voter security concerns to ensure a high turnout of youth on election day.

The QAU sample was selected through “stratified random sampling,” in which every fifth student from each university department was selected for the survey.

Although half of the respondents were from Punjab, the other provinces, Islamabad and the tribal areas were also represented in the survey. The respondents mostly identified with the middle-class and had an urban to rural ratio of 65 to 35. Females made up for 49 per cent of the sample.

The 23 per cent of students who had said they would not be voting on May 11 cited their dissatisfaction with the existing political system, lack of party affiliation and a belief that their vote would not make a difference as the main reasons.

The respondents also identified corruption and governance as the biggest problems facing Pakistan today.

Forty-five per cent of the respondents said the performance of the federal government was poor during the past five years. The performance of the Punjab government was poor or very poor according to 37 per cent of the respondents, while 57 per cent believed Pakistan was not headed in the right direction.

A significant number of respondents — 40 per cent — were dissatisfied with the current parliamentary form of government.

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