Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Scholars have keen interest in investigated the complexities of voting behavior throughout the world. The reason being is the heightened importance of elections for democracy and political processes. Party identification is one of the most important determinant of voting behavior. According to Campbell Partisanship directly or indirectly, as an independent variable affect voter Turnout, vote choice, issue preferences, and candidate image evaluations. It may raise general interest and involvement in politics and create inclinations to vote by reducing the information costs that ultimately increase the net difference. Based on this argument this study aims to understand party identification, what it is constructed of, what social, political and psychological factors are responsible for party identifications. The study further aims to quantify the impact of party identifications on voting behavior. How and through what channels party identifications infuse and affect the voting behavior. One of the prime reason for focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan is the deviation that exists in their political attitudes. This deviation has been observed more in the last four elections result. Peshawar valley is one of the central regions of KP. It is being regarded as the swing region of politics.Throughout the history Peshawar valley has presented a mixed picture of the political parties’ positions and performances. The study argues that being one of the leading determinants of voting behavior, party identification is strongly relevant in electoral study of Pakistan. There is in need to understand the sources and bases of party Identification.