Voters in 18% of communities within the jurisdiction of male and female polling stations voted differently from their male counterparts in National Assembly constituencies in the 2024 general elections, the Free and Fair Electoral Network (FAFEN) said Sunday in his report.
The non-governmental poll watcher released its new report, “Women’s Vote Choice: Meaning and Impact on Election Results,” regarding the 2024 national polls today.
He compared results from male and female polling stations in the same communities, finding that in 82% of communities, the choice of male and female voters was aligned as they returned the same winner from their respective polling stations.
Since the election results from the combined polling stations do not provide a gender breakdown of how male and female voters vote, Fafen’s assessment could only compare the results from the male and female polling stations.
Furthermore, it limited its scope to male and female polling stations where men and women from the same electoral areas voted. The assessment includes 21,188 communities comprising 42,804 male and female polling stations among men.
The aforementioned section of communities, male and female voters diverged in their choice of winner as they returned different winners from their respective polling stations.
Compared to rural areas, communities in urban areas showed more divergent choices among male and female voters.
Among the regions, Islamabad had the highest proportion (37%) of voting communities with different winners in male and female polling stations.
Balochistan had the second highest proportion (32%) followed by Sindh (19%) and Punjab (18%), while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had the lowest proportion (13%) of these electoral communities.
Of the 3,884 communities where the winner’s choice of women for Lower House seats was different, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won more women’s support in 1,260 communities, followed by Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) in 1,027 and Pakistan People’s Party (PPPP) Parliamentarians in 694 communities.
Regional trends showed that while the PTI performed well across the country in terms of voter choice, the PML-N remained strong in Punjab, and the PPPP dominated in Sindh.
In 37 NA constituencies, the largest proportion of voters in female polling stations did not vote for the winning candidates.
In 226 NA constituencies, the largest proportion of voters in female polling stations voted for the constituency winner. In 166 of these NA precincts, compared to voters in male polling stations, a greater proportion of voters in female polling stations polled for the winner.
In seven constituencies – Na-43 Tank-Cum-dera Ismail Khan, Na-49 Attock-I, NA-55 Rawalpindi-Iv, Na-87 Khushab-I, Na-94 Chiniot-II, NA-128 Lahore-xii and NA-163 Bahawalnagar-IV -, the advance of female polling stations determined the winner.
In NA-43 Tank-Cum-Dera Ismail Khan, the Imran Khan-based party narrowly won over Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) by 555 votes. A PTI-backed candidate garnered a lead of 1,430 votes in women’s polling stations alone, a margin that decisively affected the overall result, the report concluded.