Voter turnout for 2019 elections: no need to panic, yet
While voter turnout has been low in rural areas but fairly high and "energetic" in metropolitan areas.
As results start coming in from Wednesday's National and Provincial vote, a political analyst says there is no need to panic over low voter turnout just yet.
Theo Venter, a political commentator affiliated with North-West University (NWU) says the voter turnout is registered as votes are counted.
On Thursday morning at 7am, with just over 2 million votes counted, voter turnout was standing at 64 %, notably less than the 73% voter turnout registered in the 2014 National election.
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"We must remember that we are between 10 and 20 percent of counting - it's very, very early to make a determination of voter turnout," says Venter.
"I think voter turnout will eventually move up a little bit."
He says while voter turnout has been low in rural areas but fairly high and "energetic" in metropolitan areas.
Venter says he expects the 2019 voter turnout to be in the early 70s once all the ballots have been counted.