By Jessie Taylor
South Africans will go to the polls for the country's seventh democratic election on Wednesday 29 May. However, the voting process will be slightly different this year due to recent changes to the legislation governing our elections.
In April last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Electoral Amendment Bill into law. This piece of legislation expands electoral participation and widens the pool of leadership choices for national and provincial elections.
According to the Independent Electoral Commission, more than 27.79 million voters - the highest since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, are eligible to cast their votes in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections.
Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said: "Since the voters’ roll was compiled for the first time ahead of the 1999 National and Provincial Elections, it has shown steady growth of over 35% and contains the highest number of registered voters, recording an increase of 9.6 million voters since the 1999 general elections."
Gauteng remains the biggest voting block, followed by the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, respectively.
Of the eligible voters, 15 million are female, representing over 55%.
Due to the changes in legislation, South African voters will, for the first time, receive three ballots instead of only two ballots.
The first ballot will be for the election of the compensatory 200 members of the National Assembly (national ballot). The second ballot will be for the regional elections of the other 200 members of the National Assembly.
This ballot will vary from region to region, depending on which parties and independent candidates contest the relevant regional election.
Only the names of political parties and independent candidates that have met the requirements to contest each regional election will appear on this ballot.
The third ballot, the provincial ballot, will be for electing the members of the provincial legislature in each province. It contains the names of the political parties and independent candidates that have met the requirements to contest each provincial election.