The Electoral Commission is urging people to look carefully at their ballot papers when casting their votes as a large number of parties contesting the polls may confuse people.
With 48 political parties contesting the national election, and a varied number of parties contesting in each of the nine provinces, the ballot paper will appear long.
Voters will get two ballots – one for the national election and the other for the provincial election.
IEC Vice Chairperson Terry Tselane says, “It is very confusing even for a comfortable and sophisticated voter. Yesterday (Monday) when I went to cast my ballot just looking at the number of political parties that are there was really something. It’s not only the national ballot that is long, but the provincial ballots are also. The North West has the highest number of political parties with an 81% increase. Mpumalanga and Free State also increased by 71%. So there has been a lot of excitement by political parties in the elections and this is not reflected by the number of registered voters because that number has gone down.”
Click on related video below:
