First votes of election cast
Distance, time and cost deter many people from voting abroad.
SOUTH Africans living in Los Angeles were the last to cast their votes in the national general elections as polls closed at 6am, South African time, on today.
Zululand voters abroad exercised their democratic right at South African missions around the world on Wednesday with voting stations operational in 123 cities.
New Zealanders were the first to vote at 7am (9pm South African time) on Tuesday with 406 South Africans registering to vote at the South African High Commission in Auckland.
They were followed by more than 26 000 voters who applied successfully to cast their ballots at 116 missions around the world, over 33 hours.
One hundred and eight flights carried ballot papers, boxes, pens, seals and other material to South African missions across six continents.
Once completed, the ballots from each voting station will be collected in secure, sealed bags and transported to Pretoria where they will be counted for inclusion in the national results.
The city with the largest number of voters was London where 9 863 voters applied to cast their votes, while the city with the smallest number was Bissau, Guinea Bissau where just a single voter applied.
Former Empangeni resident, now living in South Korea, Carmen Brandt told the Zululand Observer the election process was quick and efficient.
‘Seoul doesn’t really have that many expatriates in comparison to places like London,’ said Brandt.
‘I think I was in and out in about 10 minutes. Best voting experience I’ve ever had. The only bad thing is that it was scheduled for the middle of the week – possibly also why I didn’t have crowds to contend with – and it is very difficult to get time off from work.
‘The government also did a very poor job of making the info available concerning how to be allowed to vote from outside SA. If I hadn’t joined a Facebook page dedicated to expats and keeping us in touch with what’s going on at home, then I wouldn’t have even known that I could vote,’ Brandt said.
Dismayed
On Tuesday, AfriForum said it was dismayed by the number of international voting stations available for South Africans living overseas.
‘It is disappointing that there are so few voting stations abroad, especially in large countries like Australia, the US and Canada,’ said Deputy Head of AfriForum Alana Bailey.
She said distance, time and cost would deter many people from voting.
‘We, however, also have sympathy with the fact that every additional voting station brings about a huge financial burden.’
Looking to the 2018 elections, the organisation said it would continue discussions with the IEC to try and find alternatives, such as electronic votes, which could be implemented for expatriates in the future.
