More than 3 million South Africans visited registration stations across the country this weekend to register to vote for the up-coming local government elections, according to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Of the 3.5 million people registering to vote over the weekend, more than 1.1 million are from KwaZulu-Natal. The province registered the most eligible voters. In terms of voter turnout results, the Eastern Cape province is third after KZN and Gauteng.
In a statement, Eastern Cape provincial electoral officer Thamsanqa Mraji said:
“Amongst the challenges was the high voter turnout, causing long queues in some registration stations; to address this challenge an increase in staff allocation and increase in registration materials is being provided for this registration weekend.”
According to data released by the IEC this week, 78.6% of the new registrations were under 30-years-old. Total new registrations for the age group 16 – 29 in the province is 74,135 which is 83% of the new registrations for the province.
This story was first published in the Daily Dispatch on 13 April 2016
Resources
IEC
New registrations by province over the past weekend – infogr.am
