Voters’ roll to be certified for 2024 National and Provincial Elections

11 March 2024

Over 27.79 million voters – the highest since the dawn of democracy in South Africa – are eligible to cast their votes in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (NPE 2024). 

The voters’ roll will be certified by the Chief Electoral Officer on 12 March 2024. It will be published by making it available at the Commission’s head office, each of the nine provincial offices of the Commission and at each municipal office of the Commission. The certification follows the finalisation of objections by the Commission on the provisional voters’ roll that was published for inspection on 26 February 2024. Certification signals confirmation of those citizens who are eligible to vote in the elections. 

Electronic copies of the voters’ roll which contain the redacted identity numbers of voters in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act will be provided to all political parties and independent candidates who have qualified to contest the elections.

Since the voters’ roll was compiled for the first time ahead of the 1999 national and provincial elections, it (the voters’ roll) has shown steady growth of over 35% and contains the highest number of registered voters, recording an increase of 9.6 million voters since the 1999 general elections. The table below illustrates the rate of growth on the voters’ roll for successive elections:

The provincial breakdown of the registered voters indicate that Gauteng remains as the biggest voting block, followed by the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape respectively.

The highlight of the certified roll is the increase in the rate of representation by persons in the age cohort 18–39 years. This age band accounts for 42% or 11. 7 million voters on the voters’ roll. In fact, the increase in this age category from the 2021 Local Government Elections (LGE 2021) is over 200%, which vindicates the continued focus by the Electoral Commission and other stakeholders to invert the under-representation of this category of voters.  

The well-entrenched trend of there being more females on the voters’ roll continues. Of the 27. 79 million voters, 15 million are females. This represents over 55%.

The introduction of the online self-service voter registration modality has contributed to the increased rate of registration by younger voters in the country as well as by citizens who are resident outside of the Republic.

The table below illustrates the top 10 missions designated as international voting stations with most registrations outside of the Republic: 

Candidate Nomination Progress

Compliance verification of the candidate nomination submissions is under way. In terms of the law, a party submission must contain a list of candidates accompanied by payment of the applicable deposit for it to be compliant. In respect of unrepresented parties, the submission must in addition, be accompanied by proof that the requisite number of signatures have been uploaded on the nomination portal. 

The requirements for independent candidates are that a prescribed nomination form must be submitted by the cut-off time accompanied by the prescribed form confirming that the candidate has submitted the requisite number of signatures and payment of the relevant deposit. Failure by a party or independent candidate to comply with any of these foundation nomination requirements cannot be remedied and will result in the disqualification of the party or independent candidate.

Unauthorised circulation of candidate lists

On Saturday, 9 March 2024, the Electoral Commission reported that it had become aware of lists of candidates that were being circulated on social media platforms. Additionally, the Electoral Commission indicated that the lists contained hallmarks of information that suggested the information emanated from a user inside of the organisation. For that reason, an enquiry was instituted to establish the circumstances of the unauthorised circulation and the person or persons responsible. Following investigations over the weekend and early hours of today, the Electoral Commission is able to give a preliminary report as follows:

The investigation has narrowed the source of the disclosure to a workstation that had been used to generate and store the reports. Later, the said reports were deleted from the workstation. Earlier today the workstation was secured and imaged in the presence of the staff member whose credentials were used to generate the reports. A forensic analysis of the computer is currently under way.

The Electoral Commission reiterates its regret for the unauthorised disclosure of the lists and the disclosure of personal information of candidates on those lists. The Electoral Commission continues to cooperate with the Information Regulator in this regard.

Issued by IEC, 11 March 2024