ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The turnout of voters in the federal capital saw a slight fall of 1.3 per cent as compared to the 2002 general elections.

The turnout was 49.98 per cent as against 51.28 per cent in 2002, according to a report compiled by the Centre for Media and Democracy, an NGO working to promote democracy and cause of press freedom.

The report said the February 18 elections saw a surprising 3.93 per cent raise in the voters’ turnout, as all the indicators were suggesting a lower attendance due to the terrorist threats and boycott calls extended by some political parties and the lawyers’ movement.

The voters’ turnout ended up at 45.67 as compared to the 41.74 per cent in 2002 elections.

The percentage figure in Punjab was 49.34 while it remained at 46.46 in the previous polls. Sindhi people also put all the threats aside and enthusiastically participated in the polls, which pushed the turnout up by 7.3 per cent. The incumbent turnout was 45.52 per cent while it was 38.22 per cent in 2002.

The people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) also defied the terrorist threats and the turnout touched 26.91 in contrast to that of 25.53 per cent in the previous elections.

NWFP people also came out of their homes shrugging off the boycott calls extended by political as well as terrorist elements. Though the turnout was slightly lesser than the previous polls (34.22 per cent), the voters’ turnout touched a surprising 33.91 per cent, which was a positive development.

Substantial increase in the voters’ turnout of mainstream political parties was also witnessed as the figures for the Pakistan People’s Party was 43.37 for its 87 national assembly seats, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was polled votes at 46.64 per cent for 67 national assembly seats. The turnout for 40 national assembly seats of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid touched 50.18 per cent.

The turnout for 19 NA seats won by MQM candidates remained at 50.56 per cent, while the same was 29.35 per cent for 9 NA seats of Awami National Party (ANP). The voters’ ratio for five Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and four Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) seats remained 36.46 per cent and 48.88 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Gallup Survey in collaboration with an NGO Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) — conducted an interesting survey on the age, income and education composition of the votebanks of leading political parties.

Though the countrywide survey was not meant to monitor the fairness of elections, it also captured perceptions about transparency, voters’ outlook on the powers of the prime minister and a host of other issues.

According to the survey, the votebank of all the leading parties were similar in age composition. The share of new voters aged between 18 to 21 years remained six per cent in the total votebank of the PPP, PML-N and PML-Q.

The share of voters aged between 22-49 years was 73, 74 and 72 per cent for the PPP, PML-N and PML-Q, respectively. 21, 20 and 22 per cent voters of the PPP, PML-N and PML-Q were 50 plus, according to the survey.

The PML-N votebank has a higher share of college educated voters compared to the two other parties, while majority of illiterates voted for the PPP.

The PML-N votebank has a higher share of upper income groups followed by the PML-Q.

The PPP has the higher share of the very poor. The PML-Q and PPP votebanks have higher share of women compared to the PML-N.

The majority of a scientific sample of voters from all over the country perceived that the polling process in the elections day was fair. However, views on environment prior to elections were mixed.

Seventy-two per cent believed that there was very little chance of unfair practice on their polling stations, while 28 per cent believed such a chance existed.