Picture Leon Lestrade. African News Agency/ANA.
More women than men have registered to vote at this year's local government elections.
Electoral Commission chief executive Sy Mamabolo said a clear pattern was evident over the registration weekend with most new voters being young and female.
The IEC was giving feedback on the registration weekend.
Mamabolo said 91% (402 401) of those who registered to vote were young people between the ages 16 and 29.
The gender demographic breakdown recorded 52% of women registered compared to male counterparts.
Of the total re-registered voters, most were from KwaZulu-Natal 358 384 and Gauteng registered 315 282 with the Eastern registering 240 514.
The voter registration weekend began with a few glitches with the IEC's online registration system. Some voting stations had also reported complaints related to the voter capturing equipment.
Mamabolo said the glitches had been corrected. He also indicated that back-up servers had been brought in to help cushion the volume experience online.
Citizens who had yet to register had until yesterday at midnight to do so online.
The voters’ roll will be sealed from today following a proclamation of the elections on November 1 by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
This legal step has allowed for amended steps to the IEC's timetable. The candidate nomination process will close today at 5 pm, Mamabolo said.
The special voting application process was also to be made from yesterday until October 4 at 5 pm.
Mamabolo encouraged the use of special voting to allow for fewer people at voting stations on November 1. Special voting will take place on October 30 and 31.
Other steps to the elections timetable include a certification of the voters' roll on September 26. Candidate nomination certificates will be issued by October 1.
Mamabolo said the IEC welcomed the Constitutional Court ruling issued on Monday which confirmed that the IEC was legally sound in its decision to re-open the candidate nomination process following amendments to its elections timetable.
The DA had brought the urgent application saying the IEC had erred when it decided to re-open the candidate nomination process.
The apex court, in unanimous judgement, disagreed.
IEC commissioner Janet Love said: “We respect what the court has decided and have accepted that this is what should guide us for the future.”
On the question of bias towards the ANC, Mamabolo said the evidence before the court put the argument to rest.
“On the evidence before the court, there is no basis to come to a conclusion of bias. The commission makes decisions rooted in the electoral law. (It) will not make the decision on account of populist antics,” Mamabolo said.
POLITICAL BUREAU