Voting day for South Africans abroad
15 April 2009
Up to 16 240 South Africans living and working abroad are expected to vote at 124 South African embassies around the world today.
Voting stations at South African missions abroad opened at 7am and are expected to close at 5pm in their respective countries.
According to reports, voters were already queuing outside the South African High Commission in London on Wednesday morning. Up to 7 472 registered voters are expected to turn out in London, at South Africa's biggest polling station abroad. Chief Electoral Officer Pansy Tlakula was expected to be at the station.
Voting in Canberra, Australia has already neared completion. There were over 1 230 registered South Africans in the capital who were expected to cast their votes on Wednesday.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates was expected to have 900 South Africans descending on its South African mission, while 410 South Africans were expected to cast their votes in Wellington, New Zealand, where voting is also nearing completion.
The Hague, Netherlands has 378 registered voters, while Dublin, Ireland has 360.
Election fever was expected to be low-key in Israel and the Palestine territories, with only 75 people registered to vote at the South African embassy in Ra'anana and just one person has registered to vote in Ramallah in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her South African delegation were expected to cast their vote in Geneva, Switzerland later in the day.
The minister is leading a South African government delegation to the UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances.
To ensure the secrecy and legitimacy of overseas votes, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has set up a two-envelope system. Once a voter at an overseas mission has cast their vote in secret, it is placed in an unmarked envelope and sealed.
This unmarked envelope is then placed in another envelope with the voter's name, ID number and voter district number. The envelopes are then placed in a ballot box, which is sealed.
When it is opened on Election Day on 22 April, the details on the marked envelope will be checked against the voters' roll and, if there is no irregularity, the unmarked envelope will be placed in a regular ballot box.
This will ensure that the vote is anonymous when the ballot is counted.
Source: BuaNews
