Women not men more active in polls: Pak media

The Nation in a story called ‘Pindi shows greater zeal than capital’ says, “a sympathy wave among the female voters was also noticed, as most of the female voters showed their loyalty to Pakistan People’s Party, because its slain Chairperson Benazir Bhutto, who was brutally murdered on December 27 during election campaign, was also a woman.”

Quoting a middle aged woman the paper said women were being sympathetic to Benazir Bhutto in particular. “After all, she was a woman like me,” said a woman voter in her 50s with her friends from NA-49 who were standing together after casting their votes to the PPP candidate,” the paper cited.

Again citing the number of women elected on the general seats, eleven in all Associated Press of Pakistan said according to the party wise break up most women belonged to PPP, “Eleven women candidates on the national assembly general seats have won the contest.

According to break-up, out of the winning women 5 belonged to PPP, two to PML-Q, 2 to PML-N, while one each from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and independent candidates, private news channel Geo reported,” the paper said.

Another prominent paper Daily Times in its article ‘Number of women, young voters equal to men’, said the women equaled their male counterparts in casting their votes, “Despite the overall low turnout of the elections across the city, the number of youth and women who cast their votes was surprisingly equal to that of men in most constituencies.

Quoting a voter the paper said a large number of women showed their affiliation with the former PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. Hajra Nafees, a voter said, “I feel deeply moved by Benazir Bhutto’s martyrdom. I haven’t cast my vote for the PPP, but I am aggrieved over Benazir Bhutto’s death,” the paper said.

Quoting another voter the paper said, “Mehwish Naz, a 22-year-old voter said, “Girls should come out to cast their votes if they want to assert their role in country’s future. I have come to cast my vote despite the fear of untoward incidents.”

Daily Times in another article titled ‘Female voters with old ID cards feel cheated’, observed that women criticized the government for depriving them of their voting rights, “Nausheen Ahmed, who went to a polling booth in Chak Shahzad, told Daily Times that the EC had spent millions of rupees on advertisements informing the nation that people with old identity cards were eligible to cast their votes, but the situation on the ground appeared otherwise.”

In yet another story of the Daily Times‘Tribal women vote despite militant threats’, the paper said that despite threats from radicals, numerous women in the Federally Administered Tribal Area and Frontier Regions cast their votes.

“Around 2,027 women cast their votes in NA-45 of Jamrud subdivision amid tight security provided by the government and armed candidates”, the paper mentioned.