Staff Reporter
JOHANNESBURG – Gauteng province has the highest number of voters ahead of other provinces as the country heads for the 2016 Municipal elections in August, according to statistics released by the Independent Elections Commission recently.
The ceremonial economic hub of South Africa, has 6.2 million certified voters followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 5.4 million, the Eastern Cape with 3.3 million and the Western Cape with 3 million. Approximately 69% of all voters are located in these four provinces .
According to IEC, 26.3 million voters eligible to vote in 2016 Municipal elections.
The voters’ roll contains 2 678 307 more voters (11.3% increase) than in the previous Municipal elections in 2011 and a 42.5% increase in the number of voters since the first Municipal elections using a voters’ roll
in 2000. It is also 943 203 more (3.7% increase) than were on the voters’ roll for the 2014 national and provincial elections.
The voters’ roll contains approximately 77% of all eligible citizens of voting age based on population estimates provided by Statistics South Africa.
In line with population trends and previous elections, approximately 55% of the voters (14.47 million) are women compared to 45% men (11.87 million).
A comparison of the voters’ rolls over the past four Municipal elections shows that the highest growth in voters has occurred in the Western Cape (56.8% increase since 2000) followed by KwaZulu-Natal (54.6% increase).
The lowest growth has occurred in the Free State where the voters’ roll has grown just 20% in the past 16 years.
