POLITICS

26,7m voters registered - IEC

Commission says of these 14,7m are women (55%)

Voters’ Roll Certified for National and Provincial Elections 2019

26 756 898 million voters are eligible to cast their votes in the 8 May national and provincial elections following the certification of the voters’ roll.

The voters’ roll was certified and published on the Electoral Commission website earlier this week following the publication of the provisional voters’ roll for scrutiny and objection. 

Digital copies of the voters’ roll are also being provided to all political parties which will contest the elections.

Since its inception ahead of the 1999 national and provincial elections, the voters’ roll has shown steady growth of over 47 percent and contains the highest number of registered voters to date, recording an increase of 1 366 748 voters since 2014.

National and Provincial Elections

Registered voters

1999

18.17 million

2004

20.67 million

2009

23.18 million

2014

25.39 million

2019

26.74 million

Of the 26.74 million registered voters, 14 716 879 are women (55 percent) which is four percent above of the demographic split of the South African population according to Statistics South Africa (based on 2018 Midyear Population Estimates).

The provinces with the highest number of registered voters are Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape:

Province

Female

% of Prov Total

Male

% of Prov Total

Prov Total

% of Total

Eastern Cape

1,917,868

57.03%

1,445,293

42.97%

 3,363,161

12.57%

Free State

 806,553

55.15%

655,984

44.85%

 1,462,537

5.47%

Gauteng

3,307,395

51.83%

3,073,904

48.17%

 6,381,299

23.85%

KwaZulu-Natal

3,115,942

56.40%

2,408,726

43.60%

 5,524,668

20.65%

Limpopo

1,548,810

59.38%

1,059,663

40.62%

 2,608,473

9.75%

Mpumalanga

1,066,424

54.64%

885,373

45.36%

 1,951,797

7.29%

North West

896,851

52.67%

805,879

47.33%

 1,702,730

6.36%

Northern Cape

 336,084

53.65%

290,408

46.35%

626,492

2.34%

Western Cape

1,717,286

54.89%

1,411,363

45.11%

 3,128,649

11.69%

Out of Country

 3,666

51.69%

3,426

48.31%

7,092

0.03%

Total

 14,716,879

55.00%

 12,040,019

45.00%

26,756,898

 


In terms of age, the biggest category of voters are those aged 30 – 39 years old (6 685 472) which represents 24.99 percent of the roll.

Only those voters whose names appear on the certified voters’ roll are eligible to vote in the 8 May elections. Voters must take their ID document (either a green bar-coded ID, a smartcard ID or a valid temporary ID certificate) with them when they go to vote at their voting station.

Statement issued by IEC, 22 March 2019