Indicators Of Common Voting Behavior In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Voting is a form of public participation in political system in which people elect a party through evaluative thinking. There are different factors which influence the voting behavior of people. Developing societies have mostly witnessed factors like religion, ethnicity, language and social differences in voting patterns. However, in developed world, issue based voting is prominent. Pakistan, being a developing country has shown similar trends in voting behavior. This research study explores dominant social, political and economic factors in the common voting behavior in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before 2013. The mixed method research approach is used in this research. Tools for data collection are questionnaire and interview guide. The population of the study consists of all the registered and literate voters of district Malakand. A sample of 400 respondents for questionnaires survey is randomly chosen by using multi-stage cluster sampling technique. Interviews are conducted by using convenient/purposive sampling technique with the relevant stack holders including political science experts, political workers and journalists. The quantitative data analysis is done through descriptive and inferential statistics by using SPSS version 22 while six-step model of thematic analysis is employed for qualitative data and results from both the methods are integrated. By integrating the results of qualitative data and quantitative data, it is found that the factors like family loyalties/kinship, patron-client relationships, religion and voting on the basis of local issues have been dominant in the common voting behavior in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before 2013.  

Key words: voting behavior in Khyber Pakhtubkhwa, common indicators, social factors, political factors and economic factors.