Pretoria:The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) is set to deploy commissioners and staff to monitor the 2026 Local Government Elections across all nine provinces on Wednesday. The primary focus of this initiative is to ensure that gender discrimination does not hinder citizens from exercising their voting rights.

According to South African Government News Agency, the CGE's monitoring exercise will evaluate whether citizens, especially vulnerable groups, can participate in the electoral process without facing discrimination.

CGE monitors are expected to visit voting districts in various settings, including urban, peri-urban, and rural communities, as well as informal settlements, to assess electoral participation. The Commission emphasized the importance of eliminating any barriers that might prevent citizens from exercising their voting rights, particularly those related to gender discrimination.

The CGE also highlighted the necessity for gender equality to be evident in all areas, including electoral processes, political participation, representation in government decision-making structures, and leadership within political parties. The monitoring exercise aims to produce an Election Monitoring Report that will detail the Commission's evaluation of the 2026 Local Government Elections.

The findings from this report are expected to contribute towards bolstering and enhancing South Africa's democracy by emphasizing the perspective of gender equality.