Article by: Dumisane Dube
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says the voter turnout is concerning for the upcoming local government elections.
The commission’s CEO Sy Mamabolo says the IEC has seen a decline in the voter turnout in national and provincial elections during previous elections.
He says the decline might be due to global ovid-19 pandemic.
“In 2011 we were able to improve voter turnout from 48% to 58%, and we retained that turnout in 2016. But as I sit here I don’t know the impact of Covid is going to be on turnout” said Mamabolo
According to Mamabolo Covid-19 might discourage voters from going to the polls.
“If there was no Covid, as a commission we would have pushed very hard through our programmes, voter education and communication programmes to push that into the 60% arena,” explained Mamabolo.
The commission’s CEO says the IEC will have safety measures put in place at the voting stations.
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