Young SA not keen to vote

YOUNG South Africans failed to register in large numbers for this year’s elections, the Independent Electoral Commission’s official final registration statistics show.

Only 35% of eligible voters under the age of 20 are registered, and only 61% of those between the ages of 20 and 29. Older voters more than make up for the youth’s slackness, however, and the registration figures for those older than 30 sitwell above 90%.

The total registration figure is now at 80.5% and there are just more than 25 million voters on the final voters’ roll.

“A national registration figure of 80% is quite high. It could be that South Africans are afraid that they’re going to miss out and they want to be there with a chance to participate,” said Professor Susan Booysen of the Uni- versity of the Witwatersrand. She said the high number of registrations showed also that South Africans were invested in the country’s politics.

The low registration figures among younger voters were not unexpected, she said. “They are in line with previous South African trends and trends worldwide.”

Independent political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the high registration figure was also indicative of a country that was anxious. “The perception is that institutions that are supposed to safeguard democracy are not yet stable and that’s why people are invested in politics,” said Mathekga.

As for the election itself, he said: “The ANC might lose on the margins, but they will still hold on to power. The bar will be set higher in terms of the proportional votes, and small parties could disappear from parliament.”