ISLAMABAD:
Following the passage of the 26th and 27th Amendments to the Constitution, there has been speculation about the 28th Amendment. Among the ideas circulating, the one that has received the most attention and criticism is the proposal to raise the voting age from 18 to 25.
This debate has sparked concern as it directly affects democratic participation and the political role of a predominantly young electorate.
The issue gained wide political attention after Farhatullah Babar, a senior PPP politician, publicly criticized the proposal.
In an X post, he wrote: “Why this talk of raising the voting age to 25? The government must reject it outright if it is actually behind it. Raising the voting age to 25 seems to be aimed at a certain political leader who, rightly or wrongly, is believed to be popular among the youth.”
Speculation reached the Kot Lakhpat jail where senior PTI leaders – detained during the May 9 violence, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed and Omar Sarfaraz Cheema – wrote a letter publicly opposing the idea, speculating that “the political fear was unnamed” for you. power.
As the debate gathered pace, Rana Sanaullah’s comment sparked fears that something may be brewing.
When asked on a private television channel, he said that while there were no official discussions going on, some people believe that if a person cannot stand for election until he is 25, there is little reason for the voting age to remain at 18.
He added that the idea is under debate and if there is agreement, it can happen.
The public discourse got so out of control that Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal came to call it baseless.
On Thursday, he posted a video on his X account clarifying the government’s position, saying that “no such legislation [is] under consideration.”
He added that although there is a budding political discussion about raising the voting age, no formal bill has yet been put forward. He stressed: “We have confidence in our youth and we cannot even think of disenfranchising them.”
Despite the government’s categorical denial, the intensity of the debate has revived the question of how Pakistan’s voting age was originally determined.
About twenty years ago, Pakistan took a different approach to suffrage. In 2002, President General Pervez Musharraf lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 by issuing the General Elections (Amendment) Order, 2002.
This change was introduced as part of wider electoral reforms to increase democratic participation by giving younger people the right to vote. Since then, the voting age of 18 has remained intact and is now a permanent part of Pakistan’s electoral system.
To fully understand the extent of this impact, it is helpful to look at the demographic data that quantifies how many young people would be directly affected by such a change.
According to data from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), at the time of the 2024 general elections, the total number of voters was around 128.58 million, with youth voters numbering 56.86 million aged 18–35, constituting 44.22% of the total electorate.
Of these, 24.66 million voters were aged 18-25. In light of these numbers, it becomes clear that any proposed change to the voting age will affect not just a minor segment, but a significant portion of the electorate.
Based on this, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) has analyzed the ECP’s publicly available data to provide a deeper insight into voter trends.
Fafen released detailed reports using ECP data from 22 January 2025 and 30 December 2025. It reports that the ECP added over 3.3 million new voters in 2025, about 9,113 new voters every day, based on district-level data.
The increasing number of voters shows how the electorate is constantly changing, so any change to the voting age will have a big impact on both current and future voters.
Against this historical backdrop, analysts believe the debate is a non-starter. Ahmad Bilal Mehboob, president of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), elaborated on this point while talking to The Express Pakinomist.
He explained that “although Mr. Ahsan Iqbal has strongly denied that such a proposal is under consideration, I feel the idea is a non-starter from the beginning. It will politically damage the government and further alienate the youth.”
Mehboob further explained, “Voters in higher age groups, except the 50+ cohort, also voted in greater percentage for PTI compared to PML-N and PPP. So if the idea was to deprive PTI of youth votes, it will not be implemented.”
Adding global context, he said: “It is contrary to the global trend where the voting age is considered to be lowered to 15.”
Mudassir Rizvi, Fafen spokesperson and election expert, echoed Ahsan Iqbal, saying it is more about disinformation than merit.
Speaking to The Express Pakinomist, he said: “It is more of a speculation than a debate. I would call it a classic case of disinformation, apparently aimed at provoking more than 20 million young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25.”
He welcomed a senior federal minister’s categorical denial and stressed the need to trace the origins of this disinformation rather than debate the merits of a proposal that, if it exists at all, has no substance.
