18 electoral system is the Electoral Act.” [45] It must be noted that in terms of the then current legislation namely section 25 of the Electoral Act, No. 202 of 1993, South African citizens who were outside the country during the 1994 elections could vote at foreign voting stations without even having to apply for special votes. No distinction was drawn between different classes of citizens (i.e. government employees or privately employed citizens). [46] Before its amendment, the 1998 Electoral Act provided that certain classes of voters (i.e. those absent from the Republic on government service) could apply for special votes, but section 33(1)(b) provided that the second Respondent could “prescribe other categories of persons who may apply for special votes”. [47] In 2003 section 33(1) was, however, amended to limit the class of citizens who may apply for special votes to “temporary absence from the Republic for purposes of a holiday, a business trip, attendance of a tertiary institution or an educational visit or participation in an international sports event, if the person notifies the Commission within 15 days after the proclamation of the date of the election, of his or her intended absence from the Republic, his or her intention to vote, and the place where he or she will cast his or her vote.” [48] The effect of the legislation referred to supra, watered down the right to vote which is inexplicable, arbitrary and inconsistent with the word and spirit of the fundamental right to vote contained in the Constitution. [49] In order to assess section 33 of the Electoral Act and its place in the scheme of the Act it is necessary to refer to certain aspects. [50] The constitution does not in any way deal with special votes. What the Constitution do is, in a nutshell, to: a) guarantee the right to vote to every adult citizen; b) lay down the principle that all citizens were equally entitled to