According to the latest report by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), over 700,00 new voters registered during the final registration weekend last Saturday and Sunday. This brings the total number of registered voters up to 26,727,921, or about approximately 74.5% of the eligible population.
Of the 703,794 new registrations, 574,899 (81%) where under 30 years old while 52% of the new registrations were women.
The Eastern Cape came third in total number of new registrations this weekend, with a total of 130,959. Gauteng was second with 236,287 and KwaZulu-Natal was first with 246,847.
Regarding the number of total voters, the Eastern Cape is again third with 3,365,821 total voters (12.6% of the total voters’ roll). KwaZulu-Natal comes up second with 5,525,22 (20.7%) and Gauteng is first with 6,366,629 (23.8%).
The IEC also expressed concern with the approximately 9 million eligible voters who are still not registered. Of these unregistered voters, 6 million are those under the age of 30.
For those who are still not registered, there is a small window of opportunity to do so at your local IEC office. This window is open until elections are officially proclaimed which is expected to occur in February. Once the elections are proclaimed, the voters’ roll officially closes.
Meanwhile, citizens living overseas can make use of a registration drive which will take place from February 1 to February 4.
For more information, you can visit their website.