POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH IN GENERAL ELECTIONS 2018 AND ITS IMPACT ON DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

General Elections (GE) 2018 provided a new momentum to the democratic process in Pakistan as
youth played a very active part in the whole electoral process. It is worth to explore the impact of
participation of youth on the results of General Elections 2018. This paper analyzes how the
participation by youth in the electoral process has actually strengthened the democratic norms in
Pakistan. GE 2018 has in fact changed the political landscape as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) first
time emerged as the third major political party that contested and won the elections. Its victory was
mainly possible because of the active participation of young generation of Pakistan. GE 2018
manifested that political behavior of the people can be changed and if the political participation of
youth is increased, it could be a turning point for a political system. In this qualitative study,
descriptive-analytical method has been used to elaborate the collected data.