Stage set for South Africa’s biggest elections

South Africa’s electoral body, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says all is set for the country’s fifth democratic elections, set for 7 May.  IEC chief electoral officer, Mosotho Moepya, advised that the body had certified the voters’ roll, with 25,390,150 registered to vote.  Moepya also said there had been a 9.5% increase in the number of people registered to vote, from 2,208,153 five years ago, while the number had gone by almost 40% from when the roll was first established ahead of the 1999 elections.

Meanwhile, all parties interested in contesting the poll in the nine provinces and the national election had to pay a deposit, submit documentation, including candidate lists last Wednesday.  According to IEC spokeswoman, Kate Bapela, “A total number of 33 political parties have indicated their intention to contest the election of the National Assembly;  although four parties are yet to fully comply with prescribed deposits and may be ruled out before the election.”

Bapela also advised that, “According to the legislation and election timetable, parties still have a window of opportunity until March 24 to submit any outstanding requirement.”  The IEC said if all 33 parties met their obligation, this would be seven more than the parties that contested the 2009 elections and just more than double the number of parties that contested in 1999.

She also went on to say, “Even if the four parties that are still to comply with the nomination requirements were to be excluded, the ballot paper will still contain a record 29 contesting parties.”   However,  the Western Cape will be the most contested province, with 26 parties submitting lists followed by Gauteng with 22, Limpopo with 20, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal with 18 each.

Political parties are hard at work on their election campaigns crisscrossing the country to garner votes for their respective parties. Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Front, said he was confident the party would be represented in all nine provinces.  Malema added, “The leadership we have today will have the capacity to address the issues of the people…  There is no chair that we are not contesting this year. It is only us and the ANC that have 830 candidates listed.”

The final deadline for decisions of the Electoral Court is April 15, following which the final list of candidates contesting the elections will be published on April 22 and certificates issued to candidates by April 24.

Source: The Africa Report