Access for young people to social media is helping to create a more democratic and participatory form of government, argues Maham Khan, a 21-year-old student of international relations at the Quaid-i-Azam university in Islamabad.

She references protests in Cairo in 2011 which were organised via social media and eventually unseated the then-president Hosni Mubarak.

"Basically the youth is actually using social media just like in Egypt, to bring about slow social revolution," she says.

But who they will vote for is hard to predict, with vast socioeconomic, religious and ideological differences between this huge population — though jobs and education are among their most unifying demands.

Polls still broadly indicate youth support for PTI and Khan's populist, reformist agenda, though the shine may have gone off the sportsman somewhat — one of the viral videos shows him being whisked away by aides as a similar crowd challenges him in Karachi.

Nevertheless, most students who spoke to AFP expressed hope for change after decades of corrupt political dynasties, and Khan represents the best chance of that.

"As a first time voter myself... I'm very excited and I want to be a part of this process through which my vote can bring change," 23-year-old Rafey Khan Jaboon told AFP. 

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