Voter registrations for the 2009 elections were progressing too slowly, the Inkatha Freedom Party said in Stanger on Sunday.
”I have been particularly alarmed by the slow pace of registration of new voters by the IEC [Independent Electoral Commission], reportedly by only 3 000 a month,” said party president Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi at the launch of the IFP’s national voter registration campaign in Kwa-Dukuza in Stanger.
”If the commission fails to radically increase the number of new voter registrations, KwaZulu-Natal is set to record the lowest level of voter participation since the advent of democracy in 2009.”
Buthelezi said the IEC needed to do more to add new voters to the roll, but that political parties could also conduct registration drives.
”We particularly need to mobilise our young people who will be turning 18 and therefore qualifying to vote for the first time to go and register.”
Buthelezi said the forthcoming elections were critical to SA’s future.
”While a lot has been achieved since the advent of democracy, there is much more that still needs to be done, especially in our rural areas,” he said.
Buthelezi said the elections were an opportunity for voters to choose a government best equipped to tackle the challenges the country faced.
”If we are to fix what is broken about the way we are governed, we must ensure that all of us who are eligible are actually registered to vote.
”There is no reason why we should not register or check our registration for the next election,” he said. – Sapa