200k new voters register as young South Africans lead IEC push

Young South Africans are driving a surge in voter registrations ahead of the country’s next elections, with more than 200,000 new voters signing up since November.

Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo says most of the new registrations are coming from younger voters using the online registration portal.

Mamabolo says the trend is encouraging as the country prepares for the upcoming elections.

“A substantial majority of the two hundred odd thousand people who registered since November is driven by young people,” he said.

Election date still to be announced

The exact date of the elections has not yet been announced.

Mamabolo says the responsibility to proclaim the election date lies with the minister responsible for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, not the president.

He says consultations around the timing of the election are already at an advanced stage.

According to the law, the elections must be held between 2 November and the end of January.

Mamabolo says practical considerations will also influence the final date.

“Firstly, there are school exams in the schooling system, there are exams in the teacher sector, and then there’s the reality of the December holiday.”

Registration weekend set for June

The IEC has scheduled a voter registration weekend for 20 and 21 June.

Voting stations across the country will be opened to allow people to register closer to home.

Mamabolo says the aim is to make the process easier and expand access to democracy.

“The idea is to open registration opportunities closer to where people live so that everybody has fair access to the franchise process.”

He says this also helps people who may not have access to data or online services.

Hundreds of political parties are registered

The IEC currently has 508 registered political parties.

However, Mamabolo says history shows that only a fraction of those parties actually contest elections.

“History tells us that not all of them actually take part in the elections. About close to 100 actually take part.”

He says larger parties have the resources to contest elections across the country, while many smaller parties only compete in specific municipalities.

Major metros such as Cape Town and Johannesburg are expected to have particularly large ballots, with projections suggesting dual-column ballot papers may be required because of the number of parties contesting.

For more information, listen to Mamabolo on CapeTalk’s Afternoon Drive with John Maytham using the audio player below: