VOTERS in two wards in Nyanga and Gugulethu in the Western Cape will literally be spoilt for choice when they choose their councillor among 39 candidates in their areas.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has revealed that at least two wards in the City of Cape Town will have the longest ballot papers.
Briefing journalists at a media information session on Tuesday, provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said Ward 38 in Nyanga and Ward 40 in Gugulethu would have the largest number of candidates.
“These two, Ward 38 in the City of Cape Town in Nyanga and Ward 40 in Gugulethu, each of those particular wards have 39 candidates, be it independents or candidates nominated by political parties.
“Those will be the longest ballot papers in the City of Cape Town,” Hendrickse said.
The province has a total of 1 577 voting stations, 474 voting centres and 35 temporary voting stations.
“The majority of voting stations are in the City of Cape Town with 801 followed by Cape Winelands 260, Eden 165, West Coast 148, Overberg 109 and Central Karoo 94,” Hendricks said at the briefing.
Hendrickse told the media that there were over 12 400 candidates nominated to contest the elections for 844 seats in the Western Cape municipalities.
There are 96 political parties vying for the seats across the province while 53 parties metro are found in the City of Cape Town.
A total of 85 independents are also contesting in all municipalities with at least 41 of them being in the metro.
Hendrickse noted that although the Municipal Structures Act desires political parties to ensure equitable representation of females, the number of male candidates was overwhelming.
There were 4 691 female candidate councillors and their male counterparts totalled 7 743.
According to Hendrickse, there were 904 candidates who were below the age of 30.
Meanwhile, there are 3.1 million registered voters in the Western Cape voters’ roll, who make up 11.8% of the registered voters nationally.
Women constitute 1.7 million (55.13%) and men 1.3 million (44.87%) on the province’s voters’ roll, which has 60% of registered voters in the City of Cape Town.
A breakdown of registered voters per age is as follows:
* Age band 18-19 totals 22 114;
* Age band 20-29 totals 423 302;
* Age band 30-39 totals 727 165;
* Age band 40-49 totals 715 880;
* Age band 50-59 totals 588 531;
* Age band 60-69 totals 374 211;
* Age band 70-79 totals 184 196; and