Chairman Glen Mashinini, his fellow commissioners and chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, were briefing journalists in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Mamabolo said 700,000 new voters added their names to the voters roll.

"The voters roll as it stands after the registration weekend is 26 727 921," said Mamabolo.

Gauteng has the highest number of registered voters at 6.3 million, representing 23.8% of the voter population, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 5.5 million (20.7%), the Eastern Cape at 3.3 million, the Western Cape at 3.1 million (11.7%), Limpopo at 2.6 million (9.7%), Mpumalanga at 1.9 million (7.3%), North West province at 1.7 million (6.3%), Free State at 1.4 million (5.4%) and the Northern Cape at 625,000 (2.3%).

In total, more than 1.1 million people have been added to the voters' roll.

Of these new voters, 52 percent are women and 48 percent are men. Nearly half are aged between 20 and 29 while 26.6 percent are aged between 18 and 19. 

Total voter registration in South Africa now stands at 74.5 percent of the eligible population.

"The Electoral Commission is pleased with the overall registration level which remains high by international standards for countries with voluntary registration," said Mamabolo.

"However, the commission remains concerned that approximately 9 million eligible voters are still not registered, of which approximately 6 million are under 30 years old."

African News Agency (ANA)