Abstract
This study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating the impact of environment, terrorist attacks and socio-economic deprivations on changes in vote shares of the major contesting political parties between two consecutive elections in Pakistan. It is assumed that performance of the incumbent political parties affects individuals’ preferences, which are reflected in changes in the vote shares. For estimations, the study uses district level data and fixed effect technique on pooled data for the election years 2008 and 2013. Results of the study show that environmental degradation reflected in the rise of temperature and terrorist attacks that represent a deterioration of security of life and property have significant and adverse effects on the voters’ preferences for the incumbent regimes. Similarly, economic deprivation, lack of educational opportunities, and health facilities has also played a significant role in reducing the vote shares of the incumbent parties.
Keywords: Responsibility Hypothesis, Socio-Economic Deprivations, Voter’s Preferences.
