The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Monday expressed satisfaction at the turnout of potential voters during the voter registration weekend on September 18 and 19.

KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest registration activity at 358 784 followed by Gauteng with 315 282 and the Eastern Cape with 240 514 people.

Addressing the media IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo said the digital platform made things easy to capture the numbers.

“Previously it would have taken weeks to capture the address details of new applicants,” said Mamabolo.

He said it was being monitored occasionally to make sure there were no issues.

New registrations stand at 433 198 while re-registrations stand at 1.2-million.

The IEC said young people in the age category 16 years to 29 years accounted for 402 401 of new registrations, or 91%.

Mamabolo said this registration effort had elicited a good response from young persons.

He added that a well-entrenched pattern of more female participants continues with 52% of all new registrations female voters.

Since its inception in July, the online registration portal has processed 499 488 applications.

The IEC expects that the use of the portal will remain at the top end for most of Monday as people use the remaining hours to register.

The IEC welcomed the proclamation of the election date by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Mamabolo said this legal act formally instituted the election phase in the reconstitution of municipal councils within the local sphere of government.

He said the proclamation had made it possible for the commission to publish and amend the election time table which would be published in the government gazette today.

Announcing the key election milestones, Mamabolo said the candidate nomination process would close at 17:00 on September 21, 2021.

Final list of candidates will be published on September 29 and candidates will be issued with certificates on October 1, 2021.

Copies of the compiled voters roll will be made available to electoral contestants between September 21 to 23.

The commission will make decisions in relation to objections raised on September 24.

The voters roll will certified on September 26

Those who wish to take advantage of the applications for special votes have from today and will close October 4.

Mamabolo announced that special votes would be cast on October 30 and 31, 2021.

Applications from persons who are unable to visit voting stations owing to infirmity will be visited at home or places of confinement while other successful candidates will cast their special votes at the voting stations.