ISLAMABAD: Women voters in 18 percent communities in the jurisdiction of male and female polling stations voted differently from their men counterparts during General Elections in Pakistan in Feb. 2024, a Pakistani election monitor said on Sunday.
Pakistan held its general election on Feb. 8, 2024 that was marred by a mobile Internet shutdown and unusually delayed results. The polls threw up a hung National Assembly and were followed by weeks of protests by opposition parties over allegations of rigging and vote count fraud.
Pakistani election authorities denied the allegations, and Shehbaz Sharif, who was favored by a coalition of political parties, secured a comfortable win over Omar Ayub of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which was backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), which aims to promote electoral transparency in Pakistan, compared results of male and female polling stations in the same communities and found that in 82 percent of the communities, male and female voters’ choice of winner was aligned.
“In 18 percent of the communities, male and female voters diverged in their choice of winner as they returned different winners from their respective polling stations,” FAFEN said in its report issued on Sunday.
“Compared to rural areas, communities in urban areas showed more divergent choices among male and female voters.”
The federal capital of Islamabad had the highest proportion (37 percent) of electoral communities with different winners in male and female polling stations. Balochistan had the second-highest proportion (32 percent), followed by Sindh (19 percent) and Punjab (18 percent), while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had the lowest proportion (13 percent) of such electoral communities, according to the report.
Of the 3,884 communities where women’s choice of winner for National Assembly (NA) seats was different, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won more support from women in 1,260 communities, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) in 1,027 and the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) in 694 communities. Regional trends showed that while the PTI performed well across the country in terms of women voters’ choice, the PML-N remained strong in Punjab, and the PPPP dominated in Sindh.
The assessment included 21,188 communities, comprising 42,804 comparable male and female polling stations. In 37 NA constituencies, the largest proportion of voters in female polling stations did not vote for the winning candidates, according to the report.
In 226 NA constituencies, the largest proportion of voters in female polling stations voted for the constituency winner. In 166 of those NA constituencies, compared to voters in male polling stations, a larger proportion of voters in female polling stations polled for the winner.
Pakistan’s National Assembly has a total 336 seats, of which members are directly elected on 266, 60 are reserved for women and a further 10 for religious minorities.
“In seven constituencies – NA-43 Tank-cum-Dera Ismail Khan, NA-49 Attock-I, NA-55 Rawalpindi-IV, NA-87 Khushab-I, NA-94 Chiniot-II, NA-128 Lahore-XII and NA-163 Bahawalnagar-IV – the lead at female polling stations determined the winner,” FAFEN said.
Pakistani women voted differently from men in 18 percent communities in 2024 general election — report
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Pakistani women voted differently from men in 18 percent communities in 2024 general election — report
- Pakistan held a general election on Feb. 8 last year that was marred by a mobile Internet shutdown and unusually delayed results
- The polls threw up a hung parliament and were followed by weeks of protests over vote count fraud, an allegation denied by authorities
IMF warns against policy slippage amid weak recovery as it clears $1.2 billion for Pakistan
- Pakistan rebuilt reserves, cut its deficit and slowed inflation sharply over the past one year
- Fund says climate shocks, energy debt, stalled reforms threaten stability despite recent gains
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s economic recovery remains fragile despite a year of painful stabilization measures that helped pull the country back from the brink of default, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday, after it approved a fresh $1.2 billion disbursement under its ongoing loan program.
The approval covers the second review of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of its climate-focused Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), bringing total disbursements since last year to about $3.3 billion.
Pakistan entered the IMF program in September 2024 after years of weak revenues, soaring fiscal deficits, import controls, currency depletion and repeated climate shocks left the economy close to external default. A smaller stopgap arrangement earlier that year helped avert immediate default, but the current 37-month program was designed to restore macroeconomic stability through strict monetary tightening, currency adjustments, subsidy rationalization and aggressive revenue measures.
The IMF’s new review shows that Pakistan has delivered significant gains since then. Growth recovered to 3 percent last year after shrinking the year before. Inflation fell from over 23 percent to low single digits before rising again after this year’s floods. The current account posted its first surplus in 14 years, helped by stronger remittances and a sharp reduction in imports. And the government delivered a primary budget surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP, a key program requirement. Foreign exchange reserves, which had dropped dangerously low in 2023, rose from US$9.4 billion to US$14.5 billion by June.
“Pakistan’s reform implementation under the EFF arrangement has helped preserve macroeconomic stability in the face of several recent shocks,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke said in a statement after the Board meeting.
But he warned that Islamabad must “maintain prudent policies” and accelerate reforms needed for private-sector-led and sustainable growth.
The Fund noted that the 2025 monsoon floods, affecting nearly seven million people, damaging housing, livestock and key crops, and displacing more than four million, have set back the recovery. The IMF now expects GDP growth in FY26 to be slightly lower and forecasts inflation to rise to 8–10 percent in the coming months as food prices adjust.
The review warns Pakistan against relaxing monetary or fiscal discipline prematurely. It urges the State Bank to keep policy “appropriately tight,” allow exchange-rate flexibility and improve communication. Islamabad must also continue raising revenues, broadening the tax base and protecting social spending, the Fund said.
Despite the progress, Pakistan’s structural weaknesses remain severe.
Power-sector circular debt stands at about $5.7 billion, and gas-sector arrears have climbed to $11.3 billion despite tariff adjustments. Reform of state-owned enterprises has slowed, including delays in privatizing loss-making electricity distributors and Pakistan International Airlines. Key governance and anti-corruption reforms have also been pushed back.
The IMF welcomed Pakistan’s expansion of its flagship Benazir Income Support Program, which raises cash transfers for low-income families and expands coverage, saying social protection is essential as climate shocks intensify. But it warned that high public debt, about 72 percent of GDP, thin external buffers and climate exposure leave the country vulnerable if reform momentum weakens.
The Fund said Pakistan’s challenge now is to convert short-term stabilization into sustained recovery after years of economic volatility, with its ability to maintain discipline, rather than the size of external financing alone, determining the durability of its gains.
