Young people are showing less and less interest in local government elections.

In 2005, 30% of 18- and 19-year-olds surveyed by the IEC said they were registered to vote. In 2021, it was only 15%.

According to the same survey, 49% of 20- to 24-year-olds in 2021 were registered, compared to 57% in 2005, while 79% of 25- to 34-year-olds were registered in 2021, compared to 86% in 2005.

Older voters are more likely to be registered, and more likely to vote, than younger voters. This means the municipal electorate skews substantially older than the population.

Local government elections draw fewer people than national elections – 16.3-million people voted in the 2024 national elections, compared to 12.1-million in the 2021 local elections.

A lack of trust in government and the failure of municipalities to provide services are often cited as the main drivers for low participation in local elections. For young people, harsh economic realities, such as high youth unemployment, likely compound this.

Read the full GroundUp article here.