Scores of United States citizens cast their ballots on Tuesday in Cape Town, ahead of the November presidential election in the US, with the number of voters taking officials by surprise, a US consulate spokesperson said.
The consulate staged a ”voting event” for the November 2 election, in which citizens living in the Western Cape province could come and cast their ballots, said Louis Nazer.
”We expected 20, maybe 30 people. By the time I left, the last count we had was that at least 240 people had come to vote,” said Nazer.
”From an overseas perspective, if it’s an indication of how enthusiastic people are about these elections, it is certainly going to be an interesting contest,” added Nazer.
”We never expected so much interest.”
Daniel Stewart, of the the US embassy in Pretoria, said a similar event, where the voting process would be explained to US citizens, could be held in the capital before voting day.
Nazer said that all votes needed to be cast by October 26.
The US embassy said about 17 000 US citizens live in the southern African country.
The wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, Teresa Heinz Kerry, was born in neighbouring Mozambique and brought up partly in South Africa. – Sapa-AFP