South Africa : President to announce election date during SONA

By Nthambeleni Gabara

Johannesburg - President Kgalema Motlanthe is expected to announce the date of the elections during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Friday.

Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Chairperson, Dr Brigalia Bam said the IEC would be meeting with the President ahead of Friday to discuss an appropriate date for the elections.

"We will meet the President on Thursday to brief him about our readiness," said Ms Bam during the release of a voter survey on Wednesday, ahead of the final voter registration weekend.

According to the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) Voter Participation Survey, almost 80 percent of South Africans are interested in participating in the 2009 national and provincial elections.

"We are expecting large turn out during this year's election given the current political climate in the country," she said.

The survey indicated that only 19 percent of South Africans were uninterested in participating in the elections, 2 percent indicated that they do not know.

Releasing results of the survey in Midrand on Wednesday, HSRC Research Director, Dr Mbithi wa Kivilu said the highest proportions of those interested in voting were in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces among Africans aged between 45 to 54-years old.

"The lowest proportions were in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, among Indians, coloureds and youth aged between 18 to 24 years," he said.

By October last year 73 percent of the population had already registered to vote with highest proportion of the registration in the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape provinces.

Most people or 75 percent of the population said they would vote in the elections in order to make a difference in the country, while 81 percent felt it was their duty as citizens to vote. A total of 68 percent said they would vote in order to get quality health, education and other basic services.

A total of 27 percent of women said they would never vote for a woman, while 14 percent of women said they will never vote for a man.

The survey also revealed that 97 percent of South Africans had the green bar-coded Identity Documents (IDs) necessary to register to vote. Those without IDs were mostly in Kwazulu-Natal and the North West province. However, 96 percent of those without an ID said they intended to apply for one.

The purpose of the voter participation survey was to determine the state of the electoral process including voting behavior among South Africans as well as the ability of the IEC to manage all aspects of elections.

According to the survey, equality divided over when voting should take place with 32 percent indicating either a normal working day, public holiday or on a weekend.

Dr Bam said another way of keeping pace with the expectations of the voters was to do systematic and scientific investigation on their needs instead of working on untested perceptions and assumptions.

She said the results provided empirical evidence of strengths and weakness to the electoral process; informed the conceptualisation and planning for the communication campaigns, the content and medium of providing voter education and was a useful tool for supporting the IEC strategy and identifying the gaps that require review.

The second and final voter registration weekend will take place on Saturday and Sunday from 8am until 5pm. - BuaNews