/ 8 January 2009

SA to wrap up voter registration next month

SA will wrap up voter registration next month, ahead of hotly contested poll expected in the first half of the year, an elections spokesperson says.

South Africa will wrap up its voter registration next month, ahead of hotly contested poll expected in the first half of the year, an elections spokesperson said Thursday.

The last voter registration drive will take place February 7 and 8, said Kate Bapela of the Independent Electoral Commission.

”We expect to register between one and two million people during the two-day exercise,” she said.

More than 21,6-million South Africans have been signed up to vote in this year’s elections after a November registration drive drew a record turnout, especially from young people.

Nearly 80% of the 1,6-million new registrations were from people under the age of 30, pushing their overall numbers to nearly a quarter of the voting population.

No date has been set for the general elections, but they are expected between March and June.

The African National Congress has dominated South African politics since 1994, winning a super-majority in the 2004 polls.

But this year the ANC, which was founded as a liberation movement 97 years ago on Thursday, faces a tough challenge from the breakaway Congress of the People party. — AFP

 

AFP