SOUTH AFRICANS VOTE ABROAD

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has confirmed that Saturday’s voting day for South Africans abroad went ahead without a glitch.

Long queues were seen in cities like London and Dubai. The city with the biggest vote registration and turnout was London with 24,000 registered voters.

Due to the large turnout, Sunday was also made available for South Africans who wanted to vote in London, New York and Washington DC.

A total of 70,000 South Africans registered to vote abroad. The first voting station to open was in Canberra, Australia.

Many voters had to travel hundreds if not thousands of kilometres to cast their vote. In the United Kingdom, London was the only city with a voting station. This meant that South Africans in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had to travel to London to vote.

Dublin in Ireland also had a voting station.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said footage of the long queues shared on social media reminded him of the queues seen in 1994 during South Africa’s first democratic election.

The South African National Election takes place on 29 May.

Image credit: Daily Maverick