JOHANNESBURG - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Friday said 26,756,898 voters are eligible to cast their votes in the May 8 national and provincial elections.
This follows the certification of the voters' roll.
The IEC in a statement said the voters' roll was certified and published on its website earlier this week following the publication of the provisional voters' roll for scrutiny and objection.
"Since its inception ahead of the 1999 national and provincial elections, the voters’ roll has shown steady growth of over 47% and contains the highest number of registered voters to date, recording an increase of 1,366,748 voters since 2014," IEC spokesperson, Kate Bapela said
"Of the 26.74 million registered voters, 14,716,879 are women (55%) which is four percent above of the demographic split of the South African population according to Statistics South Africa (based on 2018 Midyear Population Estimates). The provinces with the highest number of registered voters are Gauteng, KwaZuluNatal and the Eastern Cape."
According to the IEC, in terms of age, the biggest category of voters are those from 30 - 39 years old which is 6,685,472 and this represents 24.99% of the roll and only those voters whose names appear on the certified voters' role eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.
"Voters must take their ID document (either a green barcoded ID, a smartcard ID or a valid temporary ID certificate) with them when they go to vote at their voting station," said Bapela.
Digital copies of the voters' roll are also being provided to all political parties that will be contesting the election