Voting Determinants and its Volatility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Electoral Politics (2002-2013)

Abstract

The electoral history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) during 2002- 2013 reveals inconsistency in voting behaviours. An overwhelming majority voted for Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) in the general elections of 2002, followed by the victory of progressive political parties i.e. Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) in the succeeding elections of 2008. This volatile trend continued in the 2013 general elections, where Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), and Awami Jamhuri Ittihad (AJI) formed a coalition government of progressive and religio-political parties. The changing behaviour of voters in KP during the stated period has made it difficult to predict the relative impacts of the voting determinants on the electoral results. This research aims to investigate the impacts of voting determinants on voting behaviour in KP. It also unfolds the factors that leads to shifting priorities of the voters in each of the three general elections in KP. Using a systematic random sampling method, a sample size of 664 respondents is questioned. A number of characteristics, including area, gender, age, literacy, profession, and monthly income-based stratifications, are taken into consideration while analyzing the quantitative data.