ISLAMABAD: Former PPP senator Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday stressed the need for a level playing field and active involvement of the youth, minorities and women to ensure inclusivity in the electoral process.

He was speaking at a gathering organised by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) in collaboration with The Body Shop Pakistan to launch a seminal report, ‘Democracy’s Vanguard: Youth’s Electoral Participation in Pakistan’.

Mr Babar highlighted the disheartenment and high level of mistrust among the youth, emphasising the need for surveys of the situation and youth participation in the poll process.

He talked about crucial elements needed for achieving this goal and underscored the revival of student unions.

Pildat’s senior project manager Amna Kausar presented a brief overview of the report, setting the stage for a dynamic panel discussion on ‘youth’s electoral participation’. She highlighted that the youth, defined as persons aged 15-29, constituted 29 per cent of Pakistan’s population, signalling a significant potential influence on electoral outcomes.

According to the report, as of September 2023, there are approximately 127 million registered voters in Pakistan. Out of these, around 55m voters are young Pakistanis aged between 18 and 35.

Nighat Siddique, representing the ECP, outlined her department’s efforts to educate students on the voting process, attributing the low youth voter turnout partly to issues relating to the national identity card. She shared statistics on the outreach initiatives conducted in collaboration with Pildat.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2023