Too early to confirm voter turnout - IEC

JOHANNESBURG - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it's still too early to confirm the voter turnout, as the commission continues to tally the votes for Wednesday’s elections.

The IEC’s comments come amid speculation about the number of people who cast their ballot after polling stations were inundated with millions of voters across the country.

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The voter turnout for the national and provincial elections has been on a steady decline since 1994.

In the first democratic elections, the turnout was 87%.

Ten years later in 2004, it dropped substantially to 76%.

At the last general elections in 2019, the turnout had dropped by another 10%.

Experts believe the continuous decline is in part driven by youth voter apathy and frustrated South Africans boycotting the polls over a range of service delivery and socioeconomic challenges.

Despite the extraordinary numbers seen at polling stations on Wednesday, the IEC’s deputy chief electoral officer, Masego Sheburi, said that it was too soon to tell if it would surpass the last elections.

"We were planning on improving voter turnout, that’s what we always do in each election – surpass the performance of the previous elections."

So far close to 20% of the voting districts have been counted.