Online submissions make IEC’s job easier
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has commended the majority political parties for embracing the use of technology after all the major ones, except the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), submitted their candidate lists for the August local elections online.
The deadline for the submission of candidate lists was 5pm on Thursday.
Hours before the deadline, the ANC was still trying to resolve several disputes involving party members openly revolting against leaders imposing candidates on them. Even as the deadline passed, a small group of ANC members was protesting outside the party’s Johannesburg headquarters over what they said were irregularities in the party’s list.
But technology kept such protests far away from the offices of the IEC. Its spokesperson, Kate Bapela, said the newly implemented system had helped to avoid the long queues and much paperwork that had characterised the process in previous years when parties physically submitted their lists.
Bapela said the online process had gone smoothly and most of the party representatives found it user-friendly.
Candidates were also able to accept nomination electronically, removing the need to complete forms manually, and allowing realtime verification of the candidates’ eligibility, avoiding later changes.
“All the major parties, like the DA [Democratic Alliance] and the ANC, have selected to submit their candidates online, which is great,” said Bapela.
The EFF’s national spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, said the party wanted to minimise potential mistakes and had opted to make its submissions manually.
Just before the Mail & Guardian went to print, the ANC spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, said the party was working hard to meet the deadline.
Although data from the electoral commission was still outstanding, early indications were that the number of candidates would be much larger than in previous local elections, with a significant increase in the number of candidates registered as independents or associated with small parties.