South Africa’s national and provincial elections take place every five years.

Voters vote for a political party, not individuals. The political party then gets a share of seats in parliament in direct proportion to the number of votes it got in the election. Each party then decides on members to fill the seats it has won. This is called a proportional representation (PR) voting system.

Democratic national and provincial elections have taken place every five years starting in 1994.

Voters are registered to a voting district (VD) and appear on the voters roll only at the voting station in that VD. Special votes are allowed before elections for people who are travelling outside the country on election day or those who are disabled, infirm, elderly, or heavily pregnant. Prisoners are allowed to vote in national and provincial elections.