Decentralization, local government elections and voter turnout in Pakistan

Vista sencilla de ítem
dc.creatorAkramov, Kamiljon T.
dc.creatorQureshi, Sarfraz
dc.creatorBirner, Regina
dc.creatorKhan, Bilal Hasan
dc.date2008
dc.date2024-11-21T09:50:12Z
dc.date2024-11-21T09:50:12Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T15:12:03Z
dc.descriptionDecentralization has the potential to improve the accountability of government and lead to a more efficient provision of public services. However, accountability requires broad groups of people to participate in local government. Thus, voter turnout at local government elections is an important component of government accountability. This study used survey data on the 2005 local government elections in Pakistan to analyze the impact of electoral mechanisms, the credibility of elections, and voters? socioeconomic characteristics on voter turnout. The rational-choice perspective is applied to develop the specifications of the empirical model. The empirical analysis is based on a series of standard and multilevel random-intercept logistic models. Our important findings reveal that (1) voter turnout is strongly associated with the personal and social gratifications people derive from voting; (2) the preference-matching ability of candidates for local government positions is marginal; and (3) the introduction of direct elections of the district nazims?a key position in local government?might improve electoral participation and thus create a precondition for better local government accountability. The findings also suggest that less educated people, farmers, and rural people are more likely to vote.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/160179
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/97499
dc.languageen
dc.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Institute
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.sourceAkramov, Kamiljon T.; Qureshi, Sarfraz; Birner, Regina; Khan, Bilal Hasan. 2008. Decentralization, local government elections and voter turnout in Pakistan. IFPRI Discussion Paper 754. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160179
dc.subjectdecentralization
dc.subjectlocal government
dc.subjectelections
dc.subjectpublic services
dc.subjectgovernance
dc.titleDecentralization, local government elections and voter turnout in Pakistan
dc.typeWorking Paper

Archivos

Colecciones

Instituto Internacional de Investigación sobre Políticas Alimentarias (IFPRI)