A new report released by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Sunday highlights a significant gender-based divergence in voting patterns across communities in the 2024 general election.
The study found that in 18% of communities, female voters chose different candidates than their male counterparts in National Assembly constituencies, despite men and women voting in polling stations in the same jurisdictions. .
Fafen’s report, which compares results from 42,804 male and female polling stations in 21,188 communities, shows that in the majority of regions – 82% – male and female voters selected the same candidate.
However, the report also reveals regional and urban-rural disparities in voter preferences, with urban areas showing more differences in voting choices compared to rural regions.
Among the regions, Islamabad had the largest proportion of communities where male and female voters disagreed on the winning candidate, with 37% of voting communities showing a gap.
Balochistan followed with 32%, while Sindh and Punjab had 19% and 18% respectively. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa recorded the lowest at 13%.
The report also sheds light on party-specific trends: in the 3,884 communities where women’s choices differed from men’s, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) garnered more support from women in 1,260 communities , followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N.) in 1,027 communities and the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) in 694.
Generally, PTI found strong support from women across the country, PML-N remained dominant in Punjab and PPPP enjoyed significant support in Sindh.
In terms of constituency results, women’s voting preferences in 37 constituencies were key, with the largest proportion of voters not supporting the winning candidate.
On the other hand, in 226 constituencies, voters largely supported the victorious candidate. Notably, in seven constituencies – like Na-43 Tank-Cum-dera Ismail Khan and Na-49 Attock-I – Women’s votes determined the election outcome, with PTI enjoying substantial leads in women’s polling stations.
