Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) recorded 3.10 million votes polled for the Provincial Assembly in the General Elections, 2002, against 10.21 million registered voters, producing a turnout of 30.4%.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — known until 2010 as the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) — is Pakistan’s third-most populous province and the province most directly affected by conflict and instability in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region over several decades. Its electorate is predominantly Pashtun, though it encompasses Hindko-speaking communities in the Hazara division and other linguistic minorities.
KP’s registered electorate comprised 5.79 million male voters (56.7%) and 4.42 million female voters (43.3%). The gender gap in KP’s voter registration was 1.36 million — 13.4% of the province’s registered electorate. KP has historically had among the largest gender gaps in voter registration of any province in Pakistan, reflecting structural barriers to women’s civic participation in parts of the province.
Votes polled for the KP Assembly totalled 3.10 million against a registered electorate of 10.21 million, producing a turnout of 30.4%. KP’s turnout has consistently been lower than the national average, and lower than Punjab’s, across most election cycles. The province’s challenging geography — including mountainous terrain, limited transport infrastructure, and periods of security threat — has contributed to lower polling rates in some constituencies.
Gender-disaggregated votes-polled data are not available for the KP Assembly in the 2002 elections. Systematic recording and publication of such data began with the 2018 elections.
Rejected ballots in the KP Assembly election numbered 95,237 — 3.1% of total votes polled. The rejection rate in KP has ranged between 1.4% (1970) and 3.7% (2018) across the twelve elections. KP’s rejection rates have generally been higher than Punjab’s and Sindh’s, which may reflect factors including lower average literacy in some constituencies and administrative complexities in polling management.
KP’s registered electorate grew from 3.1 million in 1970 to 21.9 million in 2024 — a sevenfold increase — with a significant portion of the growth after 2018 reflecting the merger of former FATA constituencies. Votes polled for the KP Assembly increased from 1.5 million in 1970 to 8.5 million in 2024. Across all twelve elections, KP’s highest recorded Assembly turnout was 47.8% in 1970 and its lowest was 24% in 1997.
