Voter registration weekend was a success in Makana Municipality according to the IEC, with plenty of new voters registering for the first time and others returning to re-register to vote in next year's national elections.
Voter registration weekend was a success in Makana Municipality according to the IEC, with plenty of new voters registering for the first time and others returning to re-register to vote in next year's national elections.
According to statistics released by the Provincial Electoral Office, 4 668 people registered to vote in Makana municipal area last weekend. 2138 of these registrations were new, and 1 156 of those newly registered were between 18 and 19 years old.
According to DA Councillor Brian Fargher, a total of 1 322 brand new voters registered last weekend at the Ward 12 registration station at the Rhodes University Drama Department.
"We were not too surprised [by]the high numbers," he said. "The numbers are not an important issue but the fact that young people were there excited to exercise their right was more important."
He said the high turnout of young people at voting stations was proof that they were not indifferent to politics.
Provincial Electoral Officer Thamsanqa Mraji said in a statement that provincial turnout during the registration weekend was good.
"There were about 150 000 people who came to register and more than 280 000 came to check their details in the voterss roll at the 4 613 voting stations throughout the province," Mraji said.
He said they experienced challenges at some voting stations around the Eastern Cape, mainly because of community service delivery protests which hindered voter registration.
"A contingency plan was brought into operation to ensure that voting stations open so that voters can exercise their right to register to vote," he said. "Some of the registration staff withdrew their services citing threats and intimidation as the reason."
Mraji said there were problems in Sterkspruit, Cookhouse and Port St Johns.
