Johannesburg – The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says nearly three million voters participated in the Registration Weekend to either register to vote or update their details ahead of the 4 November 2026 Local government elections.
Commenting on what it said were two significant objectives achieved during this voter registration weekend, the IEC said it “recorded 2.9 million registration transactions”.
This is an improvement from the 1.7 million transactions recorded during the voter registration weekend for the comparable election in 2021.
General voter registration drives ahead of an election serve at least two purposes.
The first is to enlist new entrants on the roll.
“The second purpose is to enable registered voters to inspect their details, and if necessary, to update them to ensure that they are assigned to voting districts in the wards in which they reside,” the IEC explained.
“This is significant because in local government elections, there is no statutory opportunity for a voter to vote at a voting station in which they are not registered.”
The IEC said the ongoing drive to ensure that eligible South Africans are registered and correctly assigned to their respective voting districts has increased the total number of registered voters to 28.5 million.
Placed in context, the voters’ roll used in NPE 2024 contained 27.7 million voters.
In between elections, the roll reduces by 34 000 voters per month, owing principally to mortality.
Consequently, since NPE2024, 1.3 million voters were lost from the roll.
The increase in the voters’ roll is attributable, among others, to the efficiencies introduced by Voting Management Devices, which have significantly enhanced the speed of processing voter registration applications as well as the convenience of the online registration portal.
Furthermore, the Commission wishes to acknowledge political parties, local community leaders, and prospective candidates’ efforts in assisting voters to register on the online portal as well as at the registration stations.
Registration activity type
Of the total 2.9 million recorded transactions, 477 174 were first-time registrations, accounting for 16% of the total registration activity.
Voters who inspected and updated their details account for 2.4 million, which represents 84% of the total activity.
Gender
Female voters account for 1.6 million transactions, representing 57% of total activity, while male voters account for 1.2 million or 43% of total activity.
Of the 477 174 new registrations, females accounted for 254 656 or 53% while their male counterpart accounted for 222 518, representing 47%.
This is consistent with the well-established trend of there being more females than males on the voter’s roll.
Age
The Commission is encouraged by the positive response of young persons.
Young people in the age cohort 16 to 29 accounted for 785 078 of total registration activity, which represents 27% of the total 2.9 million transactions.
Of the 785 078, 59% are female, while males represent 41 %. Young persons have also dominated the new registration category.
Of the total new registration (477 174), 379 767 or 80% are young people in the age cohort betwen16 and 29.
The figures indicate that the youth-focused campaign is finding resonance with young persons and that far from it – young people are not apathetic.
Registration Channels
Voter Management Devices (VMD’s) at registration stations were the predominant channel of registration with over 2.5 million, 88% of the voters opting to visit a voting station.
On the other hand, 362 296 representing 12% of total registration activity transacted through the online registration portal.
The age cohort 16-29 account for 48% of online self-registrations.
This is consistent with the trend of young people dominant use of this registration channel. Provincial Performance
The highest volumes of registration transactions coincide with population densities.
The highest was recorded in Kwa-Zulu Natal – (691 504) representing 23%, followed by Eastern Cape – (534 773) representing 18%, and Gauteng– (502 229), representing 17%.
Website and Contact Centre engagements
The total website visits recorded during the two-day registration period was 12 million.
The leading pages visited were the online voter registration, Am I registered, which serves to check the registration status of voters, and the voting station finder, which is used to locate the correct voting station and to get directions.
The contact centre assisted voters across voice in all languages, email, and social media channels during the registration weekend.
The highest volumes related to enquiries about the functional modalities of the Voter Portal. Other contact center interactions involved general registration queries especially new voters.
Announcement: Zero-Rated Online Voter Registration and second registration weekend
The Electoral Commission announces three key initiatives to expand voter access ahead of the upcoming elections.
• Firstly, the Online Voter Registration Portal is now zero-rated, allowing all eligible South Africans to register, update their details and verify their registration information without incurring data charges.
• Secondly, the Commission announces a second voter registration weekend will take place on 1 and 2 August.
This additional weekend will provide additional opportunities for citizens to register and update their details at registration stations nationwide.
Both these initiatives form part of ongoing efforts to remove barriers to participation and strengthen electoral inclusion.
Lastly, the Online Candidate Nomination System (OCNS) is now live for political parties and prospective independent candidates to capture their candidates and supporters’ information, respectively.
The Commission will commence training sessions for registered political parties and prospective independent candidates to prepare them for the submission of candidate nominations and supporters’ lists.
Looking Ahead
The Commission will continue to process and verify all registration applications received via the Online Portal.
There are currently about 30 000 pending online applications.
The applications are pending primarily due to the quality of the ID image that voters uploaded.
Our teams will process those transactions and if necessary affected voters will be contacted.
Citizens who have not yet registered are reminded that the Online Voter Registration Portal will remain available until the official proclamation of the 2026 Local Government Elections.
Registered voters are encouraged to verify their registration details online, through the IEC mobile APP, by SMSing their ID number to 32810 or by contacting the IEC Contact Centre on 0800 11 8000.
The Commission extends its sincere appreciation to all voters, the 48 212 electoral staff, political parties, community organisations and stakeholders who contributed to the successful conduct of the Registration Weekend.
Every registration strengthens South Africa’s democracy and ensures that communities have a voice in shaping the future of local government.
