ISLAMABAD: Youth appear to be divided over the fairness and credibility of the next general elections as about 51.9 per cent of them think that the polls will be free, fair and credible while almost an equal number (46.9pc) believe otherwise.

This was the finding of an opinion survey conducted among 422 members of Pildat’s Youth Parliament Pakistan (YPP) spreading over 232 (85.3pc of total 272 National Assembly constituencies in addition to Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and overseas Pakistanis. The survey was conducted from April 7 to April 12.

While the debate over usage of electronic voting machines (EVMs) is ongoing, 76.7pc of the youth believed the EVMs will be helpful in organising free, fair and credible elections while 22.1pc were of the opinion that these would not be helpful.

Reasons for low youth voter turnout

Around 42.3pc of the respondents believed that poor performance of politicians was the key reason for abysmally low youth voter turnout followed by low level of trust in political parties (42pc) and the poor past performance of Election Commission of Pakistan (37.5pc).

What makes the youth support a political party? The survey showed that 37.9pc of the respondents were motivated to support a political party due to its past performance, 36.5pc due to the party’s election manifesto and 17.5pc by the charismatic head of the party.

76.7pc respondents say EVMs will be helpful in organising transparent polls

A majority of the respondents - 81.1pc - supported revival of the student unions in all public and private educational institutes in the country while 16.9pc were in disagreement over it.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Over the recent Russia-Ukraine resolution passed by the UN General Assembly, 70.1pc of the respondents supported the Pakistani government’s decision to abstain from voting on the resolution, 20.6pc supported the idea of voting in favour of the resolution while 5.5pc favoured voting against it.

Major challenges faced by Pakistan

As many as 48.7pc youth believed that inflation is the greatest challenge faced by the country, followed by unemployment (45.6pc) and the poor quality of education (36.3pc).

Moreover, 95.9pc of the young individuals surveyed believed that public problems can never be effectively solved without strong local governments.

Despite weaknesses and setbacks, democracy received overwhelming support from the youth as 84.9pc of the respondents agreed that democracy despite its weaknesses was the best system for the country.

The Voice of Youth is a report series by Pildat’s Youth Parliament Pakistan which aims to showcase the input acquired from the largest and most representative group of Pakistani youth (aged 18-29 years) on several socio-political and economic issues and challenges faced by them.

This edition’s theme was ‘Current affairs at a glance’. Under this edition, YPP conducted a public opinion survey from its members to seek their input regarding current socioeconomic and political situation of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022