Electoral boss hopes for voter turnout leap
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is hoping for voter turnout of 70% in the upcoming general elections, substantially more than the 66% recorded five years ago.
“I think all indications are that we’re going to have a higher turnout on this occasion compared to the 66% in 2019,” said Sy Mamabolo, chief electoral officer. “My sense, and I may be wrong, but my sense is that we are probably looking at the turnout of around 70%.”
Mamabolo said he based his estimate on the relatively large number of young people who have registered to vote since November last year. Nearly nine in 10 of the 1.2-million newly registered voters are “young people”.
“Our own data tells us that young people, once they’ve registered, tend to participate in higher proportions, relative to other age groups on the voters roll,” said Mamabolo.
Growing voter apathy has been a concern for the IEC in recent elections. South Africans appeared to have been checking out of the electoral process, the IEC head said.
“Certainly in our system, it’s worrisome that people aren’t really changing political affinities. Instead, what people do is to check out of the system — we’ve got to reverse that.
“If we are to realise a 70% voter turnout, which we predict, then it means those people must stay engaged in the democratic process. Now, it doesn’t matter from our perspective as an electoral commission who they vote for, as long as they eventually exercise their right to vote,” he said.
Mamabolo has previously told the Sunday Times the IEC was worried about the low proportion of South Africans who participated in elections.
He said IEC research has shown that this apathy was a result of disillusionment with political parties, and not due to failure to appreciate the value and importance of the vote.
“We’ve done some research on the question and our research tells us people are disengaging not because they don’t know what the value of a vote is. On the contrary, the research tells us that political performance is what creates the despondency,” Mamabolo said at the time.
“I think in South Africa we have a very well informed populace overall. I think people in this country know the value of the vote and they are disengaging not because they’re unaware, they are in fact disengaging because they are aware and they are expressing a view by not going. We hope that parties hear that message and they respond appropriately.”
This research has since been shared with politicians in the country and the IEC is now actively targeting those between the ages of 20 and 29 in its registration drives.
“The reality of the matter is people between the ages 20 to 29 are our primary target because they are not registered to the same extent as other age categories like 40 to 49, 30 to 39,” he said.
The addition of independent candidates on the ballot for this election would also “hopefully” contribute to a higher turnout.