Just over a million new registrations were added to the voters’ roll during the 9-10-November voter registration weekend, and the IEC hopes to increase that number in the final round registrations on the 8-9-February weekend.
In the first round of registrations, according to the electoral body, some 2.5 million people were assisted at the 22 263 voting stations, which left the voters’ roll standing at over 24 million people, 77% of eligible voters, from 73.6%.
The IEC says it has so far registered 183 political parties for the upcoming general elections and 133 of the parties will take part in the Elections.
Please check the map to look at the registration statistics per province:
Meanwhile, the IEC is ready and prepared for the coming general elections, chairwoman Pansy Tlakula said.
“As we prepare for the elections, we are aware that challenges may escalate… We prepared meticulously for the election,” she said at a breakfast briefing organised by The New Age newspaper in Johannesburg.
“There is a tendency for political parties’ temperatures to rise.”
Tlakula called for tolerance and respect during the election, saying she acknowledged citizens’ right to protest, but cautioned against infringing on the rights of others.
As an election management body, the IEC did not enforce the law, and acts of intimidation needed to be reported to the police, she said.
In areas where there were service delivery protests, the commission would hold peace meetings to ensure the area was conducive to a free and fair election.
“It is important for government to step in here [because] service delivery is not our issue, it’s government’s,” she said.
Tlakula welcomed fair criticism and challenges to the election results by political parties.
She promised transparency, and the IEC’s constant pursuit of improvement.
The election date has not yet been announced.
The briefing was televised live on SABC2.
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