Johannesburg – The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has announced that close to three million voters participated in the Registration Weekend to either sign up for voting or refresh their details ahead of the Local Government elections scheduled for 4 November 2026.
The IEC emphasized two significant accomplishments from this voter registration event, noting it “registered 2.9 million registration transactions.”
This represents an increase from the 1.7 million transactions noted during the voter registration weekend for the same election in 2021.
Overall voter registration activities leading up to elections aim to achieve at least two primary objectives.
The first is to register new voters onto the roll.
“The second aim is to allow existing voters to verify their details and, if needed, update them to ensure they are assigned to the correct voting districts within their residential wards,” explained the IEC.
“This is vital because, during local government elections, voters are legally restricted from casting their ballots at stations where they are not registered.”
According to the IEC, ongoing efforts to guarantee that all eligible South Africans are registered and accurately assigned to their voting districts have increased the total number of registered voters to 28.5 million.
In contrast, the voters’ roll used in NPE 2024 included 27.7 million voters.
Between elections, the roll experiences a monthly reduction of 34,000 voters, largely due to mortality.
Consequently, since NPE 2024, 1.3 million voters have been removed from the roll.
The expansion of the voters’ roll can be credited to the efficiencies provided by Voting Management Devices, which have significantly enhanced the speed of processing voter registration applications and improved the ease of use of the online registration portal.
Additionally, the Commission commends the efforts of political parties, local community leaders, and potential candidates in facilitating voter registration through both the online portal and registration stations.
Registration Activity Type
Among the 2.9 million recorded transactions, 477,174 were new registrations, comprising 16% of the overall activity.
The number of registered voters who checked and updated their details totaled 2.4 million, making up 84% of the total transactions.
Gender
Women accounted for 1.6 million transactions, representing 57% of the total, while men contributed 1.2 million, or 43% of the total.
Among the 477,174 new registrations, 254,656, or 53%, were females, compared to 222,518 males at 47%.
This pattern aligns with the established trend of having a higher number of females than males on the voters’ roll.
Age
The Commission is encouraged by the positive response from younger individuals.
Individuals aged 16 to 29 represented 785,078 of all registration activities, accounting for 27% of the 2.9 million transactions.
Within this group, 59% were female, while 41% were male. This demographic also dominated the new registration figures.
Of the new registrations (477,174), 379,767 or 80% were young people aged between 16 and 29.
These statistics suggest that youth-targeted campaigns are effectively engaging young voters, countering the notion of youth apathy.
Registration Channels
Voter Management Devices (VMDs) at registration stations were the primary method for registrations, with over 2.5 million voters, or 88%, opting to visit a voting station.
In contrast, 362,296 transactions, representing 12% of the total registration activity, were conducted online.
Individuals aged 16 to 29 made up 48% of online self-registrations.
This trend indicates that young people predominantly favor this registration method.
Provincial Performance
The highest registration transaction numbers corresponded with regions of high population density.
Kwa-Zulu Natal recorded the most with 691,504 transactions, representing 23%, followed by Eastern Cape with 534,773 (18%), and Gauteng with 502,229 (17%).
Website and Contact Centre Engagements
The website experienced 12 million visits over the two-day registration period.
The most visited pages included the online voter registration, the “Am I registered?” tool for checking registration status, and the voting station finder for locating the appropriate voting venue.
The contact center assisted voters through various channels, including voice support in all languages, email, and social media throughout the registration weekend.
The highest volume of interactions revolved around inquiries about the functionalities of the Voter Portal, with many general registration-related questions, particularly from new voters.
Announcement: Zero-Rated Online Voter Registration and Additional Registration Weekend
The Electoral Commission has unveiled three key initiatives to enhance voter accessibility in the lead-up to the upcoming elections.
• First, the Online Voter Registration Portal is now zero-rated, enabling all eligible South Africans to register, update their information, and verify their registration status without incurring data charges.
• Second, a second voter registration weekend is set for 1 and 2 August.
This additional weekend will provide more chances for citizens to register and update their details at registration centers across the country.
Both initiatives aim to remove obstacles to participation and enhance electoral inclusion.
Lastly, the Online Candidate Nomination System (OCNS) is now live, allowing political parties and prospective independent candidates to enter their candidate and supporter details, respectively.
The Commission will conduct training sessions for registered political parties and independent candidates to prepare them for submitting candidate nominations and supporters’ lists.
Looking Ahead
The Commission will continue to process and verify all registration applications submitted through the Online Portal.
Currently, there are about 30,000 online applications pending.
These pending applications primarily stem from the quality of ID images uploaded by applicants.
Our teams will work diligently to process these requests, and affected voters will be contacted if needed.
Citizens who are yet to register are reminded that the Online Voter Registration Portal will remain open until the official announcement of the 2026 Local Government Elections.
Registered voters are encouraged to confirm their registration details online, via the IEC mobile app, by sending their ID number to 32810, or by calling the IEC Contact Centre at 0800 11 8000.
The Commission expresses sincere appreciation to all voters, the 48,212 electoral staff, political parties, community organizations, and stakeholders who contributed to the successful execution of the Registration Weekend.
Every registration strengthens South Africa’s democracy and ensures that communities have a voice in shaping local government.
