IEC publishes candidate lists for inspection
Tuesday March 26 marked yet another milestone in the candidate nomination process ahead of SA’s national and provincial elections scheduled for May 29 this year.
Parties intending to contest the elections had until 5pm on Monday March 25 to revise their lists and inform the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) if they had nominated candidates who also appeared on the list of another party or who were nominated as independent candidates.
In all, 42 candidates appeared on more than one party list, implicating 39 parties.
Furthermore, one candidate was nominated as an independent and also appeared on party list.
The focus in the evolving candidate nomination process shifted this week with people allowed to inspect the lists of candidates and raise objections against candidates.
The Commission made available the lists with the names of independent and political party candidates for inspection at its national office, nine provincial offices and local offices in each municipality, on March 26 and 27.
Copies of the documents accompanying the lists are available for inspection at the Commission’s national office.
In all, 14,662 candidates have been nominated to contest the 887 seats available in the National Assembly and the nine legislatures.
The spread of the candidates is as follows: 4,323 candidates have been nominated to contest the compensatory seats in the National Assembly (parties only), 3,596 candidates have been nominated to contest the regional seats in the National Assembly (party candidates and independents) and 6,743 candidates have been nominated to contest seats in the provincial legislatures (party candidates and independents).
The biggest ballot paper will contain 56 contestants. This is the ballot for the compensatory seats in the National Assembly.
The biggest regional election ballot will be in the Gauteng region, with 40 political parties and two independent candidates. Similarly, the biggest ballot in respect of provincial legislature elections will be in Gauteng, with 42 political parties and two independent candidates.
Seven independent candidates will contest the regional elections and six will contest the provincial legislature elections.
The region with the most number of independent candidates is the Limpopo region, with three candidates.
Objections had to lodged with the Commission by yesterday. An objection could be raised on the basis that an independent candidate or nominating party failed to submit the signed prescribed acceptance of nomination.
More significantly, an objection could be raised on the basis that a candidate is not qualified to stand in the election. In this regard, section 47 and 106 of the constitution are instructive.
The Commission will decide on the objections today.
The objector, registered party or nominated candidate may appeal against the decision of the Commission to the Electoral Court by April 2.
The final list of candidates contesting the elections will be published by the Commission on April 10.
Voters may only vote at a voting station in which they are registered.