What to expect during 2024 elections

ELECTION NEWS - With the President’s announcement of the election date as 29 May, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is reminding South Africans registered to vote that, for the first time in the country’s history, there will be three ballot papers at their voting stations.

In previous elections, there were only two ballots - a National Ballot for the National Assembly (Parliament), and a Provincial Ballot for the Provincial Legislature of the province.

The third ballot is for the regional seats reserved for each of the regions in the National Assembly. Because a region refers to the same territorial area as a province, the terms “regional” and “provincial” are simply to distinguish between the seats reserved for that region in Parliament (regional seats) and seats in the Provincial Legislatures of that province (provincial seats).

At the voting station voters in the Eastern Cape will therefore receive:

A National Ballot – this ballot is the same for the whole country where you vote for a political party only.
An Eastern Cape Regional Ballot - this is a vote for an independent or party to fill the regional seats reserved in Parliament for the Eastern Cape.
An Eastern Cape Provincial Ballot - this is a vote for an independent or party for the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature.

It’s imperative that every voting citizen understands and is aware of the voting procedure in order to exercise their democratic right.

The change has come as a result of the Electoral Amendment Act that provides for the inclusion of independent candidates to run for office as a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly.

So, the 400 seats in the National Assembly are filled as follows:

200 is reserved for regional seats. Each province thus gets a number of regional seats based on the number of voters in that province. Independents and parties contest for these seats.
The remaining 200 seats in the National Assembly is filled by national PR lists of political parties only, as independents are already catered for on the regional ballot(s).

South African citizens who have not yet registered or who have not yet updated registration details such as change of address, have until tomorrow, Friday, 23 February to do so on the online voter portal at www.elections.org.za or at IEC offices during office hours.

This is when the election date will appear in the Government Gazette, signaling closure of the Voters’ Roll for these elections.

To check your registration status, you can also: