The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the Free State has reported a significant increase of registering potential voters during voter registration on 18 and 19 November for the upcoming 2024 elections. The voter registration was not negatively affected by separate protests by unhappy residents, according to South Africa’s election management body.
The two protests in Botshabelo and Qwaqwa is understood to relate to the delivery of basic services, which is indicative of the competency of local municipalities as spheres of government.
Mmathabo Rasengane, provincial spokesperson for the IEC, says a total of 16 136 new voters managed to register during the two-days at the various voting stations.
“Of the voters, 58 426 re-registered in the same voting district, 29 216 moved the voting districts. Our registration staff managed to attend to over 64 200 electorates,” says Rasengane.
In terms of age, 588 were people 16 to 18 years old, 7187 were 18 to 21 years, and 96 006 were over 21 years old. In terms of gender, 59 013 were women and 44 768 were men.
Rasengane says potential voters’ data was captured across the EIC’s 1 582 voting stations. Before the two-day voter registration, the total number of registered voters on the Free State’s voters’ roll stood at 1 421 943 of the 2.9 million population of the province. According to the IEC, this number of registered voters was below targeted 50%.
Voters can continue to register for the 2024 national and provincial election via the IEC’s self-registration platform, registertovote.elections.org.za.
