Most adult South Africans didn’t vote last Wednesday. There are likely many reasons for this but if we don’t fix it, our constitutional democracy will become increasingly imperilled.
Populist, anti-democratic parties benefited the most from the low turnout, especially MK.Estimating the population over 18 in South Africa isn’t easy. The 2022 census was poorly conducted. So I have used thenumbers; they are meticulously estimated. According to Thembisa, there are nearly 43-million South Africans over 18. Let’s be conservative and round that down to 42-million. About 16.3-million people voted, 59% of the 27.
In 1994, the long queues were symbolic of South Africans’ commitment to democracy. In 2024, the long queues are no longer inspiring; they’re symbolic of incompetence. Videos of people standing in snaking queues after 9pm indicate something went terribly wrong. Voting should take half an hour at the very most. On Thursday it rained in Cape Town. If the rain had come a day earlier fewer people would have bothered queuing and the election results could have been very different.
The regional ballot was also an issue. While it was introduced as a measure to allow independent candidates to stand, it is thoroughly confusing. It likely also slowed down the voting process.
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