How many SPOILT VOTES were there in the last SA national elections?
Every vote is going to count in the 2024 South African national elections. Here’s how many spoilt votes there were in 2019.
Every vote is going to count in the 2024 South African national elections with political experts suggesting the seventh elections since 1994 will see the closest final results.
Only 13 weeks remain until South Africans go to the polls in this year’s national elections.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the all-important date for the elections, declaring them to be Wednesday, 29 May – as reported by the SAPeople website.
Voter turnout is key for those parties looking for seats in parliament following the elections.
Spoilt votes could be the difference between a candidate winning – or losing – a seat in parliament.
Below, a look at which of South Africa’s nine provinces had the most spoilt votes in the most recent national elections in 2019.
An incredible 204 847 South Africans queued to vote five years ago, but submitted ballot papers that were spoilt.
KwaZulu-Natal comfortably led the way with 56 420, while the Northern Cape registered the fewest with 4 984, according to the official IEC website.
| Rank | Province | Spoilt votes |
| 1 | KwaZulu-Natal | 56 420 |
| 2 | Gauteng | 37 411 |
| 3 | Eastern Cape | 27 081 |
| 4 | Limpopo | 18 072 |
| 5 | Mpumalanga | 17 022 |
| 6 | Western Cape | 16 516 |
| 7 | North West | 15 833 |
| 8 | Free State | 11 508 |
| 9 | Northern Cape | 4 984 |
| TOTAL | 204 847 |