Still time to adjust party lists

IEC ramps up for May 8 poll that will involve 26.7m registered voters

Political parties have until Monday to ratify the information of their candidate lists for the May 8 election.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will then announce the final list on April 23, IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said on Wednesday.

The announcement comes as the African National Congress (ANC) battles with its own internal factional fights over the ruling party’s list of candidates. This was after state security minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba accused ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule of fiddling with the final list submitted to the IEC last Wednesday. But Magashule has denied the allegations.

The party announced on Tuesday that ANC members in the North West and Limpopo had lodged official complaints and asked for the master list to be reviewed.

Many others marched to the party’s national headquarters, Luthuli House, demanding answers over their exclusion from the list. Mamabolo said parties still had time to make corrections to their lists.

“We are currently awaiting the correction of non-compliance in relation to candidates who have not fully complied with nomination requirements.

“Political parties have until March 25 to ensure that such non-compliance is rectified.

“This rectification will pave the way for us to publish the lists of candidates on 23 April,” Mamabolo said.

While the commission awaits political parties to verify and ratify candidates’ information, 48 parties have registered for the May 8 election.

This is 19 parties more than those that contested the general elections in 2014.

The new kids on the block include the African Transformation Movement, and Mdantsane-based Christian Political Movement.

“A record number of political parties will also contest provincial legislatures in all provinces with the largest number of parties in Gauteng [36] and the smallest number [being] in the Northern Cape [21],” confirmed Mamabolo.

Mamabolo also announced that applications for special votes had been finalised, and these included those who will vote abroad.

A record 29,334 special voters are eligible to cast their ballots on April 27 at 121 foreign missions around the world.

“This is a 10% increase over the 26,716 permitted to vote abroad in 2014,” he said.

Foreign missions with the highest number of voters intending to vote are London in England with 9,084; Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with 1,542; The Hague in the Netherlands with1,355; the Australian capital, Canberra with 1,195 as well as the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi with 1,061 registered voters.

“Just 49 days remain before South Africans vote.

“Already many of the key milestones for these elections have passed,” Mamabolo said, adding that these included the final voters’ roll which has been published, with more than 26.7m voters registered.

A record number of political parties will also contest provincial legislatures

Sy Mamabolo