Political Info Behavior, Political Ignorance and Voting Participation

This research explored political information behavior, political ignorance, and voting behavior of rural dwellers in Pakistan. Face-to-face interviews of 71 participants were conducted using an unstructured interview guide. The results indicated that a large majority of rural inhabitants were politically ignorant and did not seem to be in need of political information. They were not politically conscious as they were unaware about the existing political system, the way government operates and affect their lives, current affairs, and rural development programs. They mainly depended on mass-media particularly television for political information followed by newspapers, radio, and interpersonal relationships. The analysis also revealed that a large majority of these participants did not know the value of their votes as a they cast their votes using their preferences for their caste/clan, endorsement by the community leader, fear of enmity of village elite, and friendship with community leader. These results have quite serious implications on existing political system known as democracy in Pakistan.