More than one million potential new voters were registered between March of last year and the past weekend. This was revealed by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) when announcing the results of the final voter registration drive over the weekend.
IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo told journalists in Cape Town that the results are good news. The IEC says the number for the eligible voters, who have registered to vote, has increased compared to the previous election.
“Combined with the new registration during the March 2018 voter registration weekend-the voters’ roll has seen 1.1 million new voters added ahead of the 2019 national and provincial elections. Of these new voters, 52 % are women and 48% are men. Nearly half are aged between 20 to 29 years and 26 % are aged between 19 and 29 years.”
For the final voter registration drive, according to Mamabolo, young people have heeded the call to register to vote. “Most encouragingly is that of the 700 000 new voters are over 81% are under 30 years old. This means that the youth has heeded the call to register because as we say 81% of the new registrations are people under the age of 30 whom we consider as young people.”
KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Eastern Cape provinces have the highest numbers of registered voters. Despite the good news about voter registration, the IEC has, however, expressed concern that there is still a big number of the voting population that has not taken up the opportunity.
“The IEC of course remains concerned that approximately 9 million eligible voters are still not registered of which 6 million are under the age of 30. The Electoral Commission hopes that young voters will make an opportunity of the short window period ahead of the proclamation to still register at the local offices of the IEC once the elections are officially proclaimed and this we expect to be sometime in February.”
#RegWeekendResults: Over the past #RegWeekend KwaZulu-Natal registered the highest number of new registrations (179 097) followed by Gauteng (176 953) and the Eastern Cape (84 604). pic.twitter.com/EDANtFNbl0
— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) January 29, 2019
CEO Sy Mamabolo says that although pleased with SA's overall registration level, which is high by international standards for countries with voluntary registration, Commission remains concerned that ±9.8m eligible voters are still not registered of which ±6m are <30.
— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) January 29, 2019
CEO Sy Mamabolo hopes young voters will make use of the short window of opportunity ahead of proclamation to still register at local IEC offices. Once the #SAElections2019 are proclaimed – expected during February – the voters’ roll will close for the elections.
— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) January 29, 2019
