Eligible South Africans will have the final opportunity to register to vote, verify their voter registration status, and update their registration details, including their residential addresses where necessary.
The final voter registration weekend builds on the success of the first registration weekend, during which the Commission processed about 2.9 million voter registration transactions.
It also marks an important milestone in the Commission’s electoral programme, signalling the transition from election preparation to election implementation as the country moves closer to the day of elections.
In the media briefing Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) Chief Executive Officer, Sy Mamabolo said it’s all systems go for the final voter registration this coming weekend.
“The Commission has completed its final operational preparations for the forthcoming voter registration weekend. As part of these preparations, the number of voting districts have been revised from 23 706 to 23 699. This follows the optimization of voting station arrangements based on voter activity recorded during the first registration weekend. For the final voter registration weekend coming, the Commission will operate 23,699 voting stations across the country.”
The commission is urging all eligible voters to take advantage of this opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
“The Commission calls on all eligible (SA) who have not yet registered their vote as voters, those who are registered but have not yet inspected their address details for completeness, or those who have moved residence since they last registered, to use this final opportunity to secure their place on the voters’ roll. Participation in elections begins with registration, enabling citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote.”
He said the commission registered an encouraging three million voter registration transactions during the June registration weekend, describing it as a positive indication of growing citizen participation in the electoral process.
“During the first voter registration weekend in June, over 3 million registration transactions were recorded, reflecting SA’ continuous commitment to electoral participation. The Commission is hopeful that the same spirit of participation will prevail and imbue the coming and final registration weekend.”
The commission has also welcomed the high level of youth participation, noting a significant uptake of its online voter registration services. Mamabolo again.
“Young people are also embracing digital registration in significant numbers, with the age category 16 to 29 contributing 50% of all online transactions. The largest share of youth activity comprised new registrations, with over 52% of all transactions recorded within the 16 to 29 age categories being new registration. This trend highlights the increasingly important role of digital channels in engaging first-time voters and encouraging electoral participation among young citizens.”
Meanwhile, the IEC has clarified what voters can expect to see on the ballot papers, explaining that those contesting the elections remain candidates until the outcome is declared.
The commission also outlined the differences between the ward and proportional representation ballot papers.
IEC General Manager for Electoral Matters, James Aphane, explains.
“For the upcoming elections we don’t have councillors yet, people remain candidates. So, you’re asking actually how would the ballot paper look? And we have to also consider that we have got two types of elections, which is first past the post is what election. This is where you’re going to see individuals, either as independent candidates or as people belonging to a party. Then we have got another type of election called PR, proportional representation election. This is now where you’re going to get the party leaders appearing because there we’re dealing with lists.”
Aphane also outlined the composition of the ballot papers, explaining that the number of ballots voters receive will depend on whether they are voting in a metropolitan or rural municipality.
“And if you are in an urban area like here, you are going to get two ballots, one for what election and the other one for the PR election, because you are in an urban area like here in Twane, it will be a metro. If you are in a rural area, you are going to get once again a what ballot for first past the post. You’re also going to get two PR ballots, one for the local council election and the other one for the district council election.”
–Micheal Mbewe/ Channel Africa–
