The date for the 2024 national and provincial elections will only be announced by the President in early 2024. In terms of the Constitution, the elections must be held within 90 days of the expiry of the current term of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. That term expires on 21 May 2024, and the 90-day period ends on 19 August 2024, so the elections must take place between these dates.
A voter needs to vote at the voting station serving the voting district in which the voter registered to vote.
The voting stations are open from 07:00 to 21:00 on election day.
There is no rule or law that determines that voting day must be a public holiday. However, all previous general elections have been declared public holidays to allow all voters the opportunity to vote.
You can check your voter registration status online at:
SMS your ID number to 32810. All SMSes charged at R1.
Contact the call centre on 0800 11 8000
(when the call centre is operational during the election period).
You can register as a voter online here and follow the prompts for your details. You must have your South African ID card or book when you register as you will need to scan a copy of it.
You will receive a notification as soon as your registration is processed. You can also register at your local IEC office weekdays during office hours 8am to 5pm.
Find contact details here. Also, look out for the voter registration weekend when all voting stations will be open to allow people to apply to register to vote.
The name of the registered voter will be checked and marked off of the voters’ roll. The cuticle of the thumbnail of the voter will be marked with indelible ink and the voter will be given three ballot papers that will be stamped on the back to authenticate the ballot papers (two ballots for the national election and one ballot for the provincial election).
The voter then votes by marking the ballot papers with an X next to the contestant of choice, folds the ballot papers and places the ballot papers in the relevant ballot boxes. The voter then exits the voting station.
Election results will be available here once the count of ballots is completed from the day after voting day. Also, the results of each voting station will be placed on the door of the voting station at the conclusion of the count of ballot papers cast at the voting station.
The parties you vote for are your choice and your secret.
If you’re a South African citizen and you registered as a voter in SA, you can inform the Electoral Commission of South Africa of your intention to vote outside of the country for national and provincial elections. See voting abroad for details on how to apply to vote.
You need to vote at the voting station where you’re registered to vote. If you’re outside the province where you registered, you’ll only be able to vote in the national election and not the provincial election, and you’ll be asked to complete a VEC4 form at the voting station.
In the next few months, parties will begin to release their manifestos for the upcoming election. This is a chance for voters like you to find out exactly where various parties stand on key issues and then make an informed decision on where to place their mark.Look out for what they say about employment, safety, education and universal basic income. And any other topic that is close to your heart.
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Independent candidates will no longer have to jump through hoops to contest the 2024 elections after a landmark Constitutional Court judgment on the Electoral Amendment Act. Ruling the 11,000 to 14,000 signature requirement unconstitutional, the court said that independent candidates need only secure 1,000 signatures to participate in the highly anticipated poll.
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