South Africans nation-wide are preparing to cast their votes and make their voices heard in the world of politics in May this year.
Here are a few things you need to know about the registration process prior to the elections:
After each general election the Electoral Commission embarks on an assessment process to review the various aspects of the electoral process and to identify areas for enhancement and improvement for the next election.
A key input into the preparations and planning for municipal elections does the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) undertake the municipal demarcation process.
This year the MDB process did not only review ward boundaries, it also reconfigured the municipal landscape in the country.
The number of municipalities has been reduced from 278 to 257. This includes 8 metropolitan municipalities, 205 local municipalities, and 44 district municipalities. There is similarly, a 15% reduction in wards with a final figure at 4 392.
The Electoral Commission has already taken an initiative to visit and inform voters who have been affected by changes in ward boundaries about these and how these changes will have an impact on them.
These voters were also provided with an opportunity to re-register in their new voting districts where applicable.
This initiative is called Targeted and Communication Registration (TCR). A second opportunity will be provided to affected voters before the start of general voter registration weekend.
The recruitment and training of election officials is a critical aspect for the success of any election and the IEC has approximately 1000 full-time employees of the Electoral Commission.
Engagement with all electoral stakeholders, including the disability sector, business, organised labour, traditional leadership, faith-based organisations, youth formations, women groupings, observer groupings and the media have been highly prioritised in order to ensure that all members of the various communities nation wide are well informed about how the election process will go.
Innovations that have been added in order to improve the voting process include the opportunities for candidates and political parties to submit their list of candidates by electronic means, additional special vote applications opportunities via mobile phones (for special votes to be administered at the voting station), and a Contact Centre that has combined capabilities to attend
The current voters’ roll consists of 24.95 million registered voters. Which is slightly lower than the number of registered voters for the May 2014 elections (the number then was 25.39 million).
The reason for this is that between elections the voters’ roll tends to decline due to the removal of deceased persons.
The general registration weekend will be held on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 March 2016.
On these days, all voting stations will be open for voter registration between 8am and 5pm.
Those who would like additional information are requested to contact 080 011 8000.
