Cape Town – While many young people heeded the call to register, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) will still be embarking on drives to encourage the remaining eligible young voters to register.
Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the last registration at the weekend pushed the number of registered voters to 26.7 million on the roll.
This, according to Statistics South Africa, reflects a total registration by 74.5% of the eligible population.
Out of the more than 700 000 new voters, 81% were under 30 years old and 52% were women.
Mamabolo said while it was encouraging that young people came out in big numbers, there were still many eligible young people they wanted to register.
“Combined with new registrations during the March 2018 registration weekend, the voters roll has seen 1194314 new voters added.”
He said the IEC was pleased with the overall registration level, which remained high by international standards for countries with a voluntary registration system.
“However, the commission remains concerned that approximately 9 million eligible voters are still not registered, of which approximately 6 million are under 30 years old.”
Mamabolo added that young voters could use the time before an election date was announced to register at their local IEC offices. “Once the elections are proclaimed - expected in February - the voters roll will close for these elections.
“The commission will be undertaking registration drives at higher learning campuses in early February.”