The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has set the final voter registration weekend for 3 and 4 February. The first opportunity to register, ahead of this year’s election, was on 18 and 19 November last year.
According to the commission, nationally over 700 000 new voters registered, increasing the number of registered voters to 26 727 921. The IEC stated that, of the 703 794 new registrations, over 81% were done by people younger than 30 years. Combined with new registrations on the March 2018 registration weekend, the number stood at 1 194 314. Of these new voters, 52% were women and 48% men. The commission said 49,2% were aged 20 to 29 years; 26,6% were 18 to 19 years; and 5,9% were 16 to 17 years.
In the Free State, 16 136 new voters managed to register in November at the 1 582 voting stations. According to IEC, the province’s voters’ roll stood at 1 421 943 of the 2,9 million population of the province.
