Preparations for Final Registration Weekend ahead of 2016 Municipal Elections

The Electoral Commission is appealing to all eligible voters to make use of the final opportunity to register and to update their registration and address details at their voting stations this weekend 9 and 10 April 2016.

While registration for the upcoming 2016 Municipal Elections will continue at the Electoral Commission’s local offices until the date of the elections is proclaimed by the Minister of Corporate Governance & Traditional Affairs (COGTA), the opening of all 22 617 voting stations this Saturday and Sunday between 8am and 5pm provides the most convenient opportunity for voters to ensure they are ready to participate in this year’s elections which are scheduled to take place between mid-May and mid-August.

As always, the Electoral Commission is hoping as many new voters as possible will join the existing 25.6 million registered voters to boost the voters’ roll above its current level of about 75 percent of the eligible voting population. To significantly increase the current voters’ roll will require a large number of young first-time voters to register this weekend – statistics show that approximately 80 percent of the 8 million eligible voters who are not currently registered are younger than 30.

Over 3 million South African voters visited their voting stations during the March registration weekend to register for the first time, to re-register and to update their registration and address details. This included almost 700 000 new voters. It is hoped at least a similar number will register this weekend.

The Electoral Commission is also making a special plea to all existing registered voters to use this weekend to visit their voting station to update and confirm their address details.

The Constitutional Court found in November last year that a voter’s address or sufficient particularities of their place of residence were essential to ensure that the voter is registered in the correct voting district.