The chief executive of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has announced that there were now 27.4 million eligible voters who could partake and decide on the outcome of the 2024 national elections later this year.
IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo, briefed members of the media following the second registration weekend. He said they were able to register an additional 1.2 million voters to the voters roll after two voter registration weekends in November and February.
The IEC said the past weekend’s voter registration drive would be the final one before the elections, which were yet to be announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Mamabolo said with the two registration weekends over they were now focusing on other aspects of their work, such as calling for submissions to interested parties on the distribution of 200 regional seats of the National Assembly.
But the commission has completed its public consultation process for deposits for the national assembly and provincial legislatures.
A party that will contest elections nationally and in all nine provincial legislatures will be required to pay R300,000.
Mamabolo said a party that contests in the national legislature and one provincial legislature will be required to pay a deposit of R225,000 and R25,000 for each additional region.
He said independent candidates were set to pay R20,000 for each region they will contest.
Mamabolo said they were happy with the turnout over the weekend. This followed another registration weekend in November.
“The two registration weekends have given the country a growth of 1.2 million on the voters’ roll. Following these two registration drives the voters’ roll now stands at 27.4 million.
“Regarding the past registration weekend over two million citizens interacted with the commission by either visiting the voting stations or using the online registration portal. The registration ranged from applying as new voters or updating registration details in a case of those who are already on the voters’ roll.
“Of the two million transactions recorded this past weekend 457, 000 or 22% were new entrants to the voters’ roll. A total of 1.6m or 88% updated their registration details,” said Mamabolo.
With voter registration work now done, Mamabolo said the commission would now turn its focus on submissions from interested parties on the distribution of the 200 regional seats of the national assembly.
“The commission is first calling for submissions from interested parties on the distribution of the 200 regional seats of the National Assembly. The period of public submissions closes on February 20,” said Mamabolo.
This exercise is done prior to the candidate nomination process.
Political parties have been calling for Ramaphosa to announce the election date. .
Campaigns by political parties are already in full swing.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
IOL Politics