Pretoria - Nine of the voting stations that were closed in the Free State due to rains have now been reopened, the provincial Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Sunday.
"Nine of those stations that were closed due to the weather were reopened at around midday," provincial IEC officer Jabulani Mepha said.
IEC chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam said that three of the stations that did not open were in the Zastron area, one at Koffiefontein, four at Trompsburg and three in the Dewetsdorp area.
Mepha added that the province was hoping that the number of people coming to register and to check their details would increase ahead of today's 5pm deadline. The IEC began its two-day voter registration drive on Saturday.
"We are seeing an increase of people coming to register today. We hope to see a lot more people come in," explained Mepha.
The province experienced no technological problems in registering people.
Meanwhile, in the Northern Cape, which also experienced flooding, electoral officer Bonolo Modise told BuaNews that the situation was better yesterday.
"Unfortunately heavy rains were experienced in the Colesburg area, resulting in eight additional stations not being open because the area is cut off by floods," he said.
One station in Pofadder and one in Sutherland as well as Victoria West did not open this morning. Two stations in De Aar did not open on Sunday morning.
In a statement on Sunday, the national office of the IEC said five voting stations were closed and by Sunday, a further eight stations in Poffadder, Sol Plaatjie, Sutherland and three in the Postmansburg area were closed.
On what would be done to ensure that registration continued, Modise said: "The commission indicated that it will revisit the matter as a result of rains. However, we have no indication by the national office as to what will happen."
The Northern Cape has 655 voting stations, with one voting station in Pofadder not having any registrations.
"We are not sure of the reason [for non- turnout] at that station," said Modise.
Over 400 000 people by Sunday morning had visited voting stations across the country to register for the upcoming municipal elections, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.
