Executive Chair of the Institute of Election Management Services in Africa, Terry Tselane has predicted a low turnout on election day on Monday.
Tselane says people are going to treat the day as a long weekend and travel to different places which would be out of their voting districts.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has kicked off with special votes on Saturday. Gauteng registered over 129 000 applications for special votes at voting stations and through home visits.
Tselane says a different day should have been chosen such as a Wednesday.
“It is likely slightly lower. Once you put the election day on a Monday people take sometimes Friday off knowing that they’ve got now a long weekend where they don’t have to go to work on Monday and it has an impact. Does have a disruptive element in terms of the voter turnout,” says Tselane.
Election Specialist and Political Analyst Terry Tselane ON LGE 2021
LGE 2021 I Special voting underway across SA: Mzwandile Mbeje
Tselane says electronic voting in South Africa is long overdue. He says the country is now closer to that point and the system simplifies voting processes. Tselane spoke to SABC News at the IEC Results Operations Centre in Tshwane.
“Recently we had elections even though it was for the SRC in Venda. The station closed at 7 and within 15 minutes the results were available. Having audited, checked everything. The biggest problem in South Africa in relation to the elections is actually exhaustion by the electoral staff, particularly during counting. So if you look at the objections that the electoral commission receives, those objections are largely as a result of the mistakes committed during counting because, by that time, the majority of the electoral staff are exhausted they have been there at the voting station almost a day before,” says Tselane.
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