Successful voter registration weekend enhances democracy but also gives IEC an opportunity to improve shortcomings
21 November 2023
The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs has unanimously applauded the generally successful first voter registration weekend and has called for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to strengthen areas of concern, including the infrastructure challenges in some areas. The committee today received a report on operations over the weekend and the general assessment was that the registration weekend was a success.
The interest shown by young voters between the ages of 16 to 29 is much appreciated and is a demonstration of the results that can achieved with a focussed and concerted effort to engage with this segment. The committee also considers the rollout of the online registration platform a necessary intervention that will attract more eligible voters to participate and vote. The committee acknowledged that the new registrations in the 16-29 age group accounted for 445 089 or 78.31% of the new 568 374 voters. The committee has encouraged the IEC to further enhance its interactions with this cohort to encourage further registration on the online platform.
The committee welcomed the information that 2.9 million voters interacted with the IEC over the two-day registration weekend, with most voters – 2.7 million – visiting voting stations to register and also update their details. The committee meanwhile applauded the report that (VMDs) increased the speed at which voter registration applications are processed, especially when working offline. In line with this, the VMDs processed 834 474 live transactions while the other 1 872 352 were captured and later processed.
In a sign of a maturing democracy, the committee acknowledged the increase in the overall numbers on the voters’ roll. The voters’ roll now has 26.8 million voters, an increase from 26.3 million before the registration weekend. The committee remains of the view that a mark of a strong democracy is the level of participation of eligible voters and reiterated its call for voters to continue using the online platform to register.