As special voting concluded on Tuesday ahead of Election Day on Wednesday, the IEC said it wanted to surpass the voter turnout achieved during the 2019 national and provincial elections.

South Africans who applied for the special vote came out in their numbers to cast their ballots on Monday and Tuesday. With 937,144 voters processed as of Tuesday afternoon, out of 1.6 million people who registered for the special vote, the figure exceeded special votes cast in previous elections, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced during a media briefing on Tuesday.

IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the high turnout during the two days of special voting boded well for turnout for the main elections on Wednesday.

On the number of people the commission would like to see at the polls, Mamabolo said, "We obviously wish and are preparing for a huge turnout tomorrow [Wednesday, 29 May]. Now, a turnout of anything above what was achieved in 2019 would be satisfactory. But I'm sure if we hit the 70% mark, I will be due a bonus."

In the 2024 general elections, 66.05% of registered voters cast their ballots.

Violence and interference

On Monday, 107 voting stations were unable to open for special voting because of a violent taxi protest in Mthata, Eastern Cape. However, Mamabolo said that all voting stations in the area had opened on Tuesday...