Over 18,000 South Africans living abroad registered to vote, IEC confirms

CAPE TOWN - The Electoral Commission (IEC) has confirmed that over 18,000 South Africans living abroad have already registered to vote, almost a third of them in the United Kingdom.

It’s encouraging those who have not yet registered and can’t reach foreign missions where they are living over the next three days to use the online registration portal instead. 

This also includes South Africans living in Ukraine, Israel, and Sudan, where foreign missions have been temporarily closed for security reasons. 

All government foreign missions will be open during working hours over the weekend - Saturday and Sunday - to allow South Africans abroad to register to vote. 

So far, South Africans in 101 countries have registered to vote since the online portal was introduced last year. 

The highest number of South Africans - 5,900 - are registered in the UK, followed by 1,800 in the Netherlands, 1,068 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and 821 in the United States (US). 

On the continent, registrations have been captured in 28 countries, including 316 in Mauritius, 234 in Lesotho, and 170 in Botswana. 

Even though voting online is not possible, the Electoral Commission is still appealing to South Africans abroad to register, including where missions are currently closed in Israel, Sudan, and Ukraine. 

Commissioner Janet Love: "Even if, as we all, I'm sure, within not just this country, but many parts of the world, if not all the world, hope that the security situation in all three countries will abate and we will have a situation where people can go to the missions."

The commission said it had no control over increasing the number of foreign missions to accept voter registrations.