Female voters in 18% of communities with male and female polling stations chose different candidates compared to male voters during the 2024 general elections, according to a report by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen)
The report, titled “Women’s Voting Choices: Significance & Impact on Electoral Outcomes,” was released on Sunday and analyzed the 2024 nationwide elections. It compared the results of male and female polling stations within the same communities, revealing that in 82% of communities, men and women voted for the same winners at their respective polling stations.
Since combined polling station results do not provide gender-specific voting data, Fafen’s analysis was limited to 21,188 communities with 42,804 male and female polling stations serving the same electoral areas. In these locations, women and men returned different winners in 3,884 communities.
The report found that urban areas exhibited more divergent voting patterns between genders than rural areas. Regionally, Islamabad recorded the highest proportion of communities (37%) with different male and female winners, followed by Balochistan (32%), Sindh (19%), Punjab (18%), and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (13%).
Among these communities, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received more support from women in 1,260 communities, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 1,027, and Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) in 694. While PTI gained broad support from women nationwide, PML-N was dominant in Punjab, and PPPP led in Sindh.
In 37 National Assembly constituencies, the majority of female voters chose candidates who did not win. Conversely, in 226 constituencies, women at female polling stations supported the winning candidates, with a larger proportion favoring the winner in 166 of these constituencies compared to men.
In seven constituencies, the margin of victory was determined by the lead from female polling stations, including NA-43 Tank-cum-Dera Ismail Khan, where PTI narrowly defeated Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) by 555 votes, aided by a 1,430-vote lead from women voters.
