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21 April 2009

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said the first day of special voting was completed successfully.

Special voting, scheduled for yesterday, Monday and today, Tuesday, is meant for the physically infirm, those who are in an advanced stage of pregnancy as well as electoral staff and security personnel who will be on electoral duty on election day. South Africans, who will be overseas on Election Day, also qualify for a special vote.

However, those who wanted to cast special votes should have applied between the 1 and 14 April 2009. To date about 86 000 eligible voters had applied to cast special votes.

Advocate Pansy Tlakula, Chief Electoral Officer of the IEC, appealed to voters not to abuse special voting privileges.

"We appeal to all South Africans to respect the right of those who qualify to cast special votes," she said.

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Issued by: Independent Electoral Commission
21 April 2009