Clientelism as a Voting Determinant in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: A Case Study of 2002 General Elections

This research paper tests one of the most important theories of voting behaviour such as ‘clientelism’ in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with reference to 2002 general elections. The study argues that the theory of clientelism was applicable to great extent in the electoral politics of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2002. A sample of 800 respondents was selected through multistage random and systematic sampling from the voters list in NA-2 Peshawar. The quantitative data reveals that more than fifty per cent respondents (84.13%) supported the view that their electoral preference was based on clientelism in the election of 2002. The chi-square value provides a significant p-value which shows that there is close association between clientelism and the variables including urban/rural divisions, gender, age, profession, monthly income and literacy. ______