Johannesburg – Nearly three million South Africans turned out to register and update their voter details during the first National Voter Registration Weekend held on 20 and 21 June 2026, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has announced.
The IEC recorded 2.9 million registration transactions over the two days, with 477,174 people signing up for the first time. Of those first-time registrants, 379,767 were young people, representing 80% of all new registrations. The voters’ roll has now grown to 28.5 million registered voters.
Young people between the ages of 16 and 29 dominated participation overall, accounting for 785,078 of the total transactions recorded during the weekend.
Voting stations remained the preferred method of registration, with more than 2.5 million in-person interactions recorded. Online registrations accounted for approximately 362,296 transactions.
The weekend was supported by 48,212 electoral staff, 71% of whom were women. Of the total workforce deployed, 34,404 were unemployed South Africans and 22,599 were under the age of 35.
The IEC has zero-rated its Online Voter Registration Portal, allowing eligible citizens to register, update, and verify their details at no data cost across all networks. The portal is accessible at registertovote.elections.org.za.
A final Voter Registration Weekend is scheduled for 1 and 2 August 2026, giving those who missed the June weekend another opportunity to get onto the roll ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections.
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