Johannesburg – More than one million people registered to vote over the weekend, the Independent Electoral Commission said on Sunday.

“It is estimated that yesterday [Saturday] there was total registration activity of about 1.2 million across the country,” spokesperson Kate Bapela said.

She said about half of the people who registered to vote on Saturday were new voters aged between 18 to 29 years.

“Early indications from the country’s 22 263 registration stations showed that young people were heeding the call to participate in the elections which mark the 20th year of democracy.”
President Jacob Zuma announced on Friday that the fifth national general elections would be held on 7 May.

“The Electoral Commission calls on all unregistered voters to make sure they visit their registration stations today to make use of this final weekend day to register,” Babela said. Registration stations in the country were operating smoothly.

“Heavy overnight rains in Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and the Free State caused some logistic challenges to registration stations, especially those in tents, but in most cases officials had re-erected structures and signage in time for opening,” she said.

– SAPA