‘Massive’ turnout expected at polls

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo says the IEC anticipates more voters than in 2019 elections

● The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is preparing for an increased voter turnout on Wednesday for the most closely contested general elections since 1994.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo told the Sunday Times yesterday all indications are that the voter turnout will surpass the 66% recorded in the 2019 elections.

Already, 56,800 votes have been cast at 111 foreign missions around the world, and more than 1.6-million people are eligible to cast special votes tomorrow and on Tuesday.

Voting stations on Wednesday are scheduled to open at 7am and close at 9pm.

“We do expect really that this time around it’s going to be a massive election. People are going to come out in their numbers,” said Mamabolo, who urged voters to be patient in queues.

They should view election day as a celebration and perhaps bring camping chairs to the polling stations to avoid standing in long queues, he added.

“I expect an improved voter turnout compared to 2019,” he said.

“It’s a confluence of factors — the heightened awareness, the intensive campaigns by political parties and independent candidates, as well as the dynamics in the political environment and the introduction of new players into the political equation.”

From being scanned in to vote to leaving the polling station should take no more than four minutes, he said, despite the fact that there will now be three ballots.

The IEC has printed more than 90-million ballots and voters will be presented with three ballot papers — the national compensatory ballot for political parties and the regional and provincial ballots for parties and independent candidates.

The national ballot will consist of a list of political parties vying for 200 seats in the National Assembly. There are 52 parties on this ballot paper and the configuration will be dual column.

The regional ballot papers will list political parties and independent candidates contesting for the other 200 seats in the National Assembly. Seats are reserved for each province. The number of contestants ranges from 30 to 44 on regional ballots. The configuration is single column.

The provincial ballot paper is unique to each province and includes parties and independent candidates competing for seats in provincial legislatures. It will allow voters to choose either a political party or an independent candidate to represent them in their provincial legislatures. The number of contestants ranges from 24 to 45 on the provincial legislatures ballots.

Mamabolo urged voters to ensure that they only put a cross against the name of one party or independent candidate to avoid spoiling their ballots.

He said the IEC had tried its best to show voters how the ballot papers work, especially for the dual-column national ballot.

“It’s very easy to use. The point is that it’s double column, but you can only mark it for one party and one party only,” he said.

Unlike previous elections, voters will only be allowed to cast their ballot at the polling stations where they are registered.

“Parliament intervened in 2021 to amend the law to say you can still vote other than where you are registered, but that must be on pre-notification, which closed on May 17,” Mamabolo said.

“Why did parliament intervene? Because in 2019 there were allegations of people having voted twice in the election, people having voted in their stations and having gone on to vote elsewhere.

“The fortification of controls is meant to increase the credibility of the process so that there are no perceptions of people voting twice in the election.”

Mamabolo urged voters to check where they are registered, either on the IEC website, its mobile application or by sending their ID number via SMS to 32810 or by contacting the call centre on 0800-118-000.

The counting of results will begin immediately after 9pm at the respective voting stations. This will be done in front of party agents and observers.

It is expected that counting will be completed and the results announced on Sunday June 2.

Mamabolo said the police have identified several potential hotspots across the country and will beef up security.

The political infighting of the new entrant, the MK Party, will not affect the IEC processes as the ballot papers have been printed and finalised with Jacob Zuma as the face of the party.

He said the IEC was awaiting the outcome of the investigation into allegations of forged signatures by the MK Party in the Western Cape.

A record-breaking 160 organisations, collectively deploying more than 5,000 observers from around the world, will witness and validate the integrity of South Africa’s electoral process. They include international bodies such as the AU, the Carter Centre Democracy Programme and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, alongside domestic observers.