1.2 million new voters added to the voters’ roll since November - IEC

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says 1.2 million new voters have been added to the voters’ roll since November 2023, as the country prepares for the 2024 General Elections.

Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, briefed the media on Tuesday, on the outcomes of the final voter registration weekend.

 “Following these two registration drives, the voters’ roll now stands at 27.4 million. Regarding the past registration weekend, over 2 million (2 060 754) citizens interacted with the commission by either visiting the 23 303 voting stations or using the online voter registration portal.’’

“The interactions ranged from applying for registration as new voters or updating the registration details in the case of those already registered. Of the 2 million transactions recorded this past weekend, 457 384 or 22% were new entrants on the voters’ roll. A total of 1 606 370 or 88% inspected and updated their registration details. This is in line with the message that a voter must register and vote in the voting district where they reside, unless they notify the Commission of an intention to vote elsewhere.’’

PHOTO: IEC

Mamabolo says the applications at voting stations stood at more than 1.8 million whereas the online applications gave a total yield of 240 789.

Provincially, KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of registrations with 510 670 transactions, followed by Gauteng 452 596, and the Eastern Cape came in third at 305 460 transactions.

The Western Cape recorded 160 550 new registrations over the weekend of 3 & 4 February 2024

The IEC also revealed that 77% of new registrations are young persons under the age of 29 entering the voters’ roll for the first time. New registrations for young person’s stands at 352 524.

‘’KwaZulu Natal again leads with young person’s registration at 103 647 followed by Gauteng at 82 168, and in third is the Eastern Cape at 43 673. The gender split of the new registration is, on this occasion, evenly split with female registrations accounting for 233 364 which is 51 percent whilst the male new registrations account for 224 020 which is 49 per cent.’’

27.4 million people, as of Tuesday, are on the voters’ roll.

‘’Gauteng remains the province with the biggest voting population at 6.4 million voters, followed by Kwazulu-Natal at 5.7 million, then the Eastern Cape at 3.4 million voters. The age category 20-29 at 4.3 million now represents 48 percent measured against the voting age population. The online registration portal has greater usage in the province of Gauteng at 99 522, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 43 240 and the Western Cape at 33 822. Young persons under the age of 29 account for 47 per cent usage of the online registration portal. Females are more likely to use the online portal more than males do at 58 per cent or 139 313.’’

Mamabolo says they are pleased with the registration weekend

‘’The registration weekend proceeded without significant glitches. When you have a programme with more than 23 000 service points, there will be an incident here and there. Our message is that the second registration weekend was very successful, both in numbers and logistical performance of the commission.’’

Chief Electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo says, it will now shift focus on ramping up preparations for the elections, as two registration weekends concluded.

‘’The next phase of the electoral programme includes these important activities. The Commission is calling for submissions from interested parties on the distribution of the 200 regional seats of the National Assembly. The period for public submissions closes on 20 February 2024. The Commission will consider the submissions and representations together with data voter population data in each region to determine the spread of the 200 seats. This work is an important precursor to candidate nomination as it will enable political parties to know how many candidates they may field in each respective region to national list. The number of candidates on a list may not exceed available on any election segment.’’

Mamabolo says the Commission has now determined the quantum of election deposits for those political parties and independents who intend to contest the forthcoming elections.

‘’The determined deposits are as follows: A political party that contests the compensatory seats in the National Assembly and in all the nine regions will need to deposit an amount of R300 000. Furthermore, a political party will have to R50 000 for each of the provincial legislatures. A political party that contests the compensatory seats in the National Assembly and in at least one region will deposit R225 000 and R25 000 for each additional region. Independent candidates will deposit R20 000 for each region they contest and R 15 000 for the election of a provincial legislature. Deposits are refunded to parties and independent representatives that win a seat.’’

‘’The Commission will also imminently publish its determination of the number of seats in each provincial legislature. The determination also follows a period of public consultation and representation by interested parties as well as data related to population in each province. The Electoral Commission is pleased to announce that a portal to capture signatures supporting nomination to contest Elections NPE 2024 is now available for use by unrepresented political parties and independent candidates.’’ ‘’Independent candidates must be supported by 1000 voters in a region or province in which they stand. 4 Unrepresented parties must be endorsed by the equivalent of 15% of the quota of votes per seat in the previous election for a region or provincial legislature they intend to contest.’’

The Chief electoral officer reminded eligible voters who are still not registered to go online or visit the offices of the Electoral Commission in municipalities to register.

‘’Registration will remain open until proclamation of the election date. The Commission reminds eligible voters of the general rule in elections. That is, a person votes at a voting station where they are registered. The only exception to the general rule is that a voter may vote outside of the voting district of registration upon notification to Commission by a date to be regulated by the Election Timetable. Details of the modalities of notification will be outlined in the not-too-distant future. We remind the nation to use our SMS 32810 line to check their registration status. Our Contact Centre on 0800 11 8000 remains available for basket of assistance to register. Our “What’s App” line 0600 88 000 is also available to assist voters. It’s your Democracy, own it!’’

Done by: Mitchum George