President Cyril Ramaphosa has formally announced that election day on 29 May will be observed as a public holiday, in a government gazette published on Friday.
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This decision follows the gazetting of the election date, with Friday marking the deadline for South Africans to register for the polls, as per The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.
The presidency’s announcement stated that this proclamation came after consultations with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Although the announcement of the election date was made on Tuesday night for the country’s seventh democratic elections in May, Ramaphosa’s office mentioned that the formal proclamation of the date would occur shortly.
Once the date is proclaimed, the voters’ roll will close, effectively halting new registrations. Presently, over 27 million South Africans are registered to vote, but approximately 14 million eligible citizens have yet to register.
In a statement, Ramaphosa urged South Africans to head to the polls in their numbers – ‘Beyond the fulfilment of our constitutional obligation, these upcoming elections are also a celebration of our democratic journey and a determination of the future that we all desire.
‘I call on all South Africans to exercise their democratic right to vote and for those who will be campaigning, to do so peacefully within the full observance of the law. We also urge unregistered voters to use the online registration platform to register.’
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Picture: The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa