Electoral Commission sets deadlines for upcoming elections

THE Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has published a timetable setting out the road map towards the upcoming elections to be held on May 8.

The timetable was published days after President Cyril Ramaphosa proclaimed the election date and declared it a holiday. The IEC said that parties contesting the elections should nominate and submit candidate lists to the electoral body by March 13.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo was expected to notify any registered party that had submitted a list of candidates but had not fully complied by March 19.

Parties that do not meet the compliance for nomination of candidates would be given an opportunity until March 25 to correct the non-compliance. The lists of candidates and accompanying documents submitted by registered parties would be available for inspection between March 29 and April 1.

“Any person, including the chief electoral officer, may object to a candidate to the commission in the prescribed manner by April 2, 2019.”

Parties would be notified if any of their candidates appeared in candidate lists of other parties.

According to the notice, the commission must decide on an objection to a candidate by April 8.

Appeals to the IEC may be lodged with the Electoral Court by April 11 and a decision made by April 16.

The list of the registered parties entitled to contest the election and the final list of candidates for each of those parties have to be compiled on April 23.

The chief electoral officer would, two days later, issue aspirant candidates with a certificate stating that they were candidates in the general election.

However, as part of the election preparations Mamabolo last week made the provisional voters roll available for inspection until Friday.

The voters roll would be available at the commission’s head office, provincial offices and local offices in each municipality.

“Any person, including the chief electoral officer, may object to the inclusion or exclusion of a person on the provisional voters roll, or the correctness of any person’s registration details on that provisional voters roll, by March 8, 2019.”

The commission would decide on the objections to the provisional voters roll by March 14. “By March 18, 2019, the chief electoral officer must certify and publish the voters roll or the segments of the voters roll that will be used in this election.”

The IEC was expected tomorrow to make public the list of voting stations for inspection, including the locations and estimated times of closure of each mobile voting station.

People wanting to cast a special vote at a foreign mission would be able to do so on April 27.

Those qualifying for a special vote inside the country would be expected to cast their ballots on May 6 and 7.