IEC have disenfranchised many South Africans living abroad
The DA Abroad expresses its deep concern at the low number of South Africans who have submitted the VEC10 form and informed the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of their intention to vote abroad.
With less than 24hrs left till the deadline for VEC10 submissions, only around 20,000 VEC10 forms have been counted. This low number can largely be attributed to the complexity of voting arrangements for South Africans living abroad, which has led to the effective disenfranchisement of many who wish to vote in 2014.
South Africans who wish to vote abroad, and who are registered to vote, have until midnight (UTC +2:00) tonight (12th March 2014) in which to submit their VEC10 forms on this page of the IEC's website: bit.ly/VEC10
Compared with the number of South Africans living abroad, which is widely thought to run into the millions, the number that have indicated their intention to vote in the 2014 election via their submission of a VEC10 form is extremely low.
Over the past few months a large number of South Africans living abroad have expressed extreme frustration with the overseas voting process on social media and in emails to the DA Abroad. The reasons for these frustration include: