Ballot sheets Information

Since the President announced the election date as 29 May, the IEC would like to remind South Africans registered to vote for NPE 2024 that their voting stations would have three ballot papers for the first time in history.

Previous elections had only two ballots: a National Ballot for the National Assembly (Parliament) and a Provincial Ballot for the provincial legislature.

Regional seats in the National Assembly are decided on the third ballot. Since a region and a province share the same physical territory, the terms “regional” and “provincial” are used to distinguish between Parliamentary seats and Provincial Legislature seats.

Thus, Western Cape voters will receive at their polling stations:
National ballots allow you to vote for one political party nationwide.

Western Cape Regional Ballots—votes for independents or parties to fill Western Cape Parliament seats.

A Western Cape Provincial Ballot—a vote for an independent or party for the legislature.

You need not vote for the same party or candidate twice. You can vote for different national, provincial, and regional parties on each ballot. 

The Electoral Amendment Act allows independent candidates to compete for National Assembly Member of Parliament.

Provincial Electoral Officer Michael Hendrickse said: “It’s a significant milestone in the evolution of our democracy and seeks to expand electoral participation.

Regional seats will represent the Western Cape in the National Assembly.

The 400 National Assembly seats are filled as follows:

200 regional seats are reserved. The number of votes in each province determines its regional seat count. Parties and independents run for these seats.

Since independents are already represented on regional ballots, national PR lists of political parties fill the remaining 200 National Assembly seats.