IEC records 1.7 million voter registrations as voters’ roll grows by 2.1 million since 2024 elections

The IEC says KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of voter registration transactions during the final registration weekend, while young voters accounted for 26% of all registration activity ahead of elections.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) recorded 1.7 million voter registration transactions during the final registration weekend ahead of the 2026 local government elections, with the number of new voters added to the voters’ roll since the 2024 national elections reaching 2.1 million.

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the two registration drives held in June and August resulted in close to 4.7 million interactions with voters and added 754,000 new voters to the voters’ roll.

Mamabolo said the final registration weekend on 1 and 2 August saw citizens interact with the IEC through 23,699 voting stations across the country or via the online voter registration portal.

Of the 1.7 million transactions recorded, 291,016 were first-time registrations, while 1.5 million involved already registered voters inspecting or updating their registration details.