Ensuring democratic continuity becomes costlier every time
THE success of general elections on Feb 8 hinges significantly on voter turnout, impacting both the democratic process and the public cost incurred. A robust participation rate, besides strengthening democracy, will validate the allocation of valuable resources, both human and material, invested in this extensive nationwide endeavour. A low voter turnout could escalate the cost per voter — a figure that has already more than doubled since 2018. In what stands as historically the most expensive elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is spending more than double the budget of the previous elections and over 26 times more than the 2008 polls. The lack of specialised expertise to conduct a comprehensive study on election spending data and the absence of analysis, dissection of public funds or systematic tracking and tracing of expenses on general elections in Pakistan by any independent civic entity make it challenging to comment on the outlay of the government’s election budget. However, through interviews with relevant officials and experts, Dawn has attempted to break down the per-voter cost of past and upcoming elections.