Former South African President FW de Klerk on Thursday called for South Africans living abroad to be given the right to vote in the upcoming national election.
In a letter to the Chairwoman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Brigalia Bam, President De Klerk said it was wrong that prisoners could vote but not citizens living overseas.
"Prisoners in South Africa have this right but somehow South Africans working and staying overseas are denied the constitutionally guaranteed right to vote," he said.
The letter argues that the constitution gives all citizens an equal right to vote, and that not allowing those who live abroad to cast their ballots, is discriminatory.
South Africans living abroad were allowed to vote in the country's first democratic elections in 1994, but five years later the external vote was severely restricted. This remained the case in 2004, to the dismay of opposition parties who say it disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of South Africans.
President De Klerk urged Bam to reconsider the matter urgently "since immediate steps will have to be taken to register" South Africans living abroad in time for the election.