Record Voter Turnout in GE-2024, Despite Drop in Participation Rate
FAFEN report reveals 61.2 million voters cast ballots, with women's registration surpassing men's for the first time
Islamabad: Shakila Jalil
The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has released a detailed analysis of voters’ participation in the General Election 2024 (GE-2024) as part of its celebration of National Voters Day. The report provides an in-depth review of voter trends, including male and female participation, and draws comparisons with the previous general elections.
As many as 61,282,920 voters cast their ballots during GE-2024, which is the highest ever number of voters turning out to vote in any general election. However, the turnout dropped to 48 percent, as compared to 52 percent in 2018, due to an unprecedented increase of 22.5 million voters in electoral rolls between the two elections.
The report also highlights a significant increase in women’s registration, with 12.5 million new women voters registered between 2018 and 2024, surpassing the 10 million new male voters registered during the same period. Although women’s turnout remained lower than men’s, the gap between their turnouts narrowed from 10 percentage points in GE-2018 to nine percentage points in GE-2024.
Furthermore, the report reveals a higher voter turnout in predominantly rural constituencies (50.1 percent) compared to largely urban constituencies (43.8 percent), with nearly twice as many voters from rural areas casting their ballots.
