Expatriate vote allowed in South Africa
11/02/09 18:46
The South African expatriate community should be allowed to vote in the country's election, according to a ruling by Pretoria High Court.
Around two million South Africans have moved abroad to become an expatriate and this decision could mean a delay to the general election which is due around April or May.
As part of the ruling, the court has ordered the electoral commission to change its procedures to let South Africans living abroad to vote.
The opposition Afrikaner nationalist Freedom Front Plus party brought the legal application on behalf of an expatriate South African school teacher living in the UK.
It was still possible the Constitutional Court, the country's highest court, could overrule the judgment.
The party said it was filing an application for the proclamation of election day to be postponed to allow the Constitutional Court ample time to consider the matter.
Britain's South African expatriate community consists of around 500,000 people.
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