Over 26 million people registered to vote
Image: Thulani Mbele
Following the last voter registration weekend this year, over 700 000 new voters will get a chance to cast their vote in May.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced on Tuesday that this has now brought the number of people who will vote in the national elections at 26 727 921.
"Most encouragingly, of the 703 794 new registrations, over 81% (574 899) are under 30 years of age. This means that the youth have heeded the call to register. Combined with new registrations during the March 2018 registration weekend, the voters’ roll has seen 1 194 314 new voters added ahead of the upcoming elections," said IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela.
She said of these new voters, 52% are women while 48% are men. Nearly half (49.2%) are aged from 20-29 years, 26.6% are aged 18-19 and 5.9% are aged 16-17.
Bapela said KwaZulu-Natal registered the highest number of new registrations (246 847) followed by Gauteng (236 287) and the Eastern Cape (130 959).
She added that in terms of the total voters’ roll, Gauteng has the most registered voters (6 366 629) followed by KwaZulu-Natal (5 525 222), Eastern Cape (3 365 821), Western Cape (3 120 239), Limpopo (2 607 294), Mpumalanga (1 949 163), North West (1 703 795), Free State (1 463 790) and Northern Cape at (625 968).
"In addition to new registrations, 1 078 416 voters used the weekend to register in a new voting district and 690 310 voters confirmed their registration in the same voting district.
"In total, 2 472 520 voters were assisted at South Africa’s 22 925 voting stations over the weekend. Of these, 65% visited a voting station on Sunday with a last-minute rush over the final few hours," added Bapela.
She aid the IEC is pleased with the overall registration level which "remains high" by international standards for countries with a voluntary registration system.
The IEC said however, it was still concerned that approximately 9 million eligible voters are still not registered, of which approximately 6 million are under 30 years old.