Residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad braved transport issues, delays in polling, mismanagement and the heat and humidity on Wednesday to exercise their right to vote.

Dawn spoke to a number of voters about who they chose to vote for and why, as well as those who chose not to vote at all.

Voters spoke of broken promises by politicians – particularly those made to neglected portions of society, as well as unemployment, power cuts and local and national issues, and hope for the future.

Mirza Ayaz – businessman

“I voted for change because the previous rulers had not paid heed to the people’s problems. Business activities had halted due to energy crisis in the last five years. There is a need for change, and citizens will experience new people with a better vision. I have high hopes that the new government will work to create jobs for unemployed youngsters.”

Syed Ali Raza Jaffari – student

“I voted for PTI in the National Assembly and PML-N in the provincial assembly. I voted for the tiger because we have been voting for the tiger for the last several elections.

“It is the right of the person to select a candidate; I wanted the PTI in the National Assembly for international policies and PML-N in the provincial assembly.”

Sakina Bibi – housewife

Our village Chak Rajgan in Gujar Khan has traditionally been a PPP stronghold.

We have been voting for the party eversince its establishment.

I had to bring my daughter with me to cast my vote as nobody is there to take care of her.

She is being so difficult because of the hot weather but I had to cast my vote as I had promised Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of my vote when he visited our house following his defeat in 2013 polls.

Sayyar Mohammad – senior citizen

“I belong to Charsadda but have been living in the federal capital for almost five decades and served in the Red Cross. My vote is registered here but I decided not to vote. I have seen a number of political parties that claimed they wanted to serve the nation but after getting power they only made money. Leaders were sincere when Pakistan came into being, but the current leadership does not believe in serving the nation. They are all equal to me, so I decided not to vote.”

Rashid Javed – CDA worker

“I voted for the PPP because it is the only party that cares about poor people. A large number of people were regularised during the tenure of the PPP. I decided to vote in favour of the PPP, but I request that if some other party comes into power it should also regularise employees.”

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2018