IEC to wrap up registration in Feb

2009-01-09 08:05

Johannesburg - South Africa will wrap up its voter registration next month, ahead of hotly contested polls expected in the first half of the year, an elections spokesperson said on Thursday.

The last voter registration drive will take place on February 7 and 8, said Kate Bapela of the Independent Electoral Commission.

"We expect to register between one and two million people during the two-day exercise," she told AFP.

More than 21.6 million South Africans have been signed up to vote in this year's elections after a November registration drive drew a record turnout, especially from young people.

Nearly 80% of the 1.6 million new registrations were from people under 30, pushing their overall numbers to nearly a quarter of the voting population.

No date has been set for the general elections, but they are expected between March and June. About 140 political parties are registered, Bapela said.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) dominates South African politics, winning a super-majority in the 2004 polls.

But this year the ANC, which was founded as a liberation movement 97 years ago on Thursday, faces a tough challenge from the breakaway Congress of the People party.

- AFP