Merely 36pc turnout recorded in by-elections: FAFEN

ISLAMABAD: Nearly 36 percent of registered voters cast their votes in the by-elections – nine percent less than the turnout in 18 of 22 constituencies in the 8^th February’s general elections, the Free and Fair Election Network said in its report.

The FAFEN maintained that low voter turnout, procedural irregularities, and restrictions on independent observation in two provincial constituencies in Punjab overshadowed the improved results management and lower numbers of ballots excluded from the count during the April 21 elections in 22 national and provincial assembly constituencies.

The report read that votes polled by women decreased by 12 percent, while votes polled by men declined by nine percent despite an increase of 75,640 registered voters, including 37,684 men and 37,956 women compared to the general elections.

Lahore’s five constituencies recorded the sharpest decline in the voter turnout with PP-147 reporting a mere 14 percent as against 35 percent on February 8. Similarly, NA-119 Lahore registered a 19 percent turnout against 39 percent on February 8. However, the voter turnout in Gujrat and Khuzdar constituencies recorded an increase compared to general elections held on February 8.

The FAFEN’s report added that the declining turnout was accompanied by a reduction in the number of ballots excluded from the count during the by-elections, almost halved (35,574) as compared to the number of invalid ballots (72,472) during the general elections. In addition, there were no constituencies where the rejected ballots exceeded the Margin of victory as against four in the general election.

The parties that won during the general elections retained their seats in the by-elections, except in PP-36 Wazirabad and PP-93 Bhakkar. In these constituencies, PTI-backed candidate and an independent candidate had won during the general elections, but PML-N candidates emerged successful in the by-elections. These two were among the four constituencies where the margin of victory has decreased as compared to the general elections unlike the rest where the margin of victory has increased.

According to the Lists of Contesting Candidates (Form-33), a total of 264 candidates including 256 men and eight women contested for the 22 constituencies. Of these 264, 88 candidates represented 21 political parties, while the remaining 176 contested independently.

The ECP had setup 4,238 polling stations – 935 male, 899 female and 2,404 combined – comprising 13,811 polling booths – 6,778 male and 7,033 female – to cater to more than 6.3 million registered voters.

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