Voters’ roll certified for 2024 national, provincial elections

More than 27.79-million voters

the highest since the dawn of democracy in SA are eligible to cast their votes in the 2024 national and provincial elections (NPE 2024).

The voters’ roll was certified by the chief electoral officer on March 12 2024. It will be published by making it available at the IEC’s head office, nine provincial offices and at each municipal office.

The certification follows the finalisation of objections by the IEC on the provisional voters’ roll that was published for inspection on February 26.

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 more than 35% and contains the highest number of registered voters, recording an increase of 9.6-million voters since 1999.

The table below illustrates the rate of growth on the voters’ roll for successive elections:

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

2024: 27.79-million

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

Eastern Cape respectively.

The highlight of the certified roll is the increase in the rate of representation people aged 18–39. This age band accounts for 42% or 11. 7-million voters on the voters’ roll. The increase in this age category from the 2021 local government elections is more than 200%, which vindicates the continued focus by the IEC and other stakeholders to invert the underrepresentation of this category.

The well-entrenched trend of there being more females on the voters’ roll continues. Of the 27. 79-million voters, 15million are female. 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 SA.

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 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 requirements cannot be remedied and will result in the disqualification.