More than 500,000 new voters are young people, says IEC

More than half a million people who registered to vote in the 2019 general election at the weekend are young people.

This is according to Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) chief executive Sy Mamabolo.

Briefing the media in Cape Town on the outcome of the final voter registration drive on Saturday and Sunday, Mamabolo said there were now 26‚727‚921 names on the voters’ roll‚ with 703‚794 having registered at the weekend.

“Most encouragingly‚ of the 703‚794 new registrations, more than 81% (574‚899) are under 30. This means that the youth have heeded the call to register‚” Mamabolo said.

“Combined with new registrations during the March 2018 registration weekend‚ the voters’ roll has seen 1‚194‚314 new voters added ahead of the upcoming elections.

“Nearly half (49.2%) are aged 20-29‚ 26.6% are 18-19 and 5.9% are aged 16-17.”

He said Gauteng had the most voters (6‚366‚629)‚ followed by KwaZulu-Natal (5‚525‚222) and the Eastern Cape with 3‚365‚821.

“Based on the latest voting age population estimates‚ the current voters’ roll reflects a total registration of 74.5% of the eligible population.

Mamabolo said the IEC was pleased with the overall registration level.

However, it was concerned that about 9-million eligible voters were still not registered‚ of which about 6-million were under 30.