Party agents lead source of electoral coercion attempts - survey

The council released its Election Satisfaction Survey report at the IEC’s results centre in Midrand on Friday morning.  

During the 2024 national and provincial elections, 12% of participants reported someone trying to force them to vote for a certain independent candidate or political party. 

“Nine per cent reported this happened before election day, and this they said was perpetrated 4% by party agents, 4% by friends and family,” said the council’s research director, Dr Benjamin Roberts. 

Four per cent of those surveyed reported that the attempts happened while they were waiting in line to vote. 

“Again the dominant response is that 4% party agents, 1% friends and family and 1% other voters.

“Two per cent said some sort of attempt at forcing them to change their vote happened inside the voting station. The dominant responses here were again 1% party agents, 1% family and friends,” continued Roberts. 

However, 73% of those who reported coercion said it had little bearing on their electoral choice, while 25% said it did, and 2% said they were uncertain. 

According to the HSRC, this translated to 3% of all voters changing their vote. 

Election officials accounted for less than 1% of the reported coercion attempts.