Elections 2024: Many voters undecided on who to support

Clarence Ford speaks to Sanusha Naidoo, author, academic and research specialist.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce the election date at Thursday’s State of the Nation Address.

South African voters will be spoiled for choice at the polls with a record number of registered parties.

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However, many South Africans feel there is no party that truly represents their interests according to a recent Ipsos poll.

Naidoo says that roughly 10% of registered voters are undecided.

“KwaZulu Natal had almost 28% undecided voters.”

- Sanusha Naidoo, author, academic and research specialist

In addition to this, voter turnout is potentially going to be disappointing as only 27,173,114 South Africans are registered to vote, out of a potential 42.3 million South Africans aged 18 years or older.

According to Naidoo, the Ipsos poll suggests that voter turnout will have a significant impact on the electoral outcome.

“Bigger parties do well with a lower voter turnout, but when the voter turnout is higher it fragments the electoral space.”

- Sanusha Naidoo, author, academic and research specialist

The 2024 elections are expected to bring about change, with it seeming increasingly likely that the ruling party will drop below 50% of the vote.