The Inkatha Freedom Party is to follow other opposition parties in going to court in a bid to secure South Africans living abroad the right to vote in the upcoming election.

"The IFP will be participating in the on-going litigation aimed at challenging the constitutionality of the exclusion of South African residents abroad, from the next elections," the party's chief whip, Koos van der Merwe, announced on Thursday

"It is unconstitutional, unfair and unpatriotic to exclude any South African citizen from the electoral process at this dramatic juncture in our history," he added.

The Democratic Alliance asked the Cape High Court last month to have section 33 (1) (e) of the Electoral Act which bars expatriates from voting, declared unconstitutional.

On Monday, the Pretoria High Court is due to rule on an urgent application along the same lines by the Freedom Front Plus.

For the past decade, the Electoral Act has allowed only citizens who are abroad on holiday, business, study and international sports, to cast their ballots from outside the country.

In 1994, South Africans living abroad were allowed to vote in the country's first democratic elections, but the external vote was restricted in the next election five years later.

This remained the case in 2004, to the dismay of the opposition who claims that it disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of South Africans.

Former president FW de Klerk last month urged the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to interpret the law differently and allow expatriates to register for the election.

But IEC chairwoman Brigalia Bam refused, saying any confusion over the act should be resolved by Parliament or the courts.