NELSPRUIT – The parties contesting this year’s general elections are gearing up their campaigns with just over two weeks to go. Registered South Africans go to the polls on May 7 to elect new provincial and national governments.
In a twist, two prominent former ministers have embarked on a “Vote No” campaign. Mr Ronnie Kasrils, former minister for intelligence services and former member of the ANC national executive council, and Ms Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, former deputy minister of defence and health, launched the “Sidikiwe! Vukani! Vote No Campaign” campaign last week.
They explained they were not urging voters to stay away on election day, but rather to vote for small minority parties or spoil their ballot paper by writing “no” across it. According to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), nobody may be forced to vote or to vote in a certain way, and they were allowed to spoil their votes.
Figures from previous elections show that in 1994, a total of 193 112 voters out of the 19,7 million people who voted spoiled their ballots. In 1999, this number stood at 251 320 spoiled ballots out of 16,2 million votes cast.
Spoiling one’s vote means you are voting for no party. To do this entails making it impossible for those counting the votes to figure out which party one has voted for on one’s ballot. Examples are either making a cross next to the name of more than one party on the ballot, or not making any cross at all. However, torn-up ballots will not be counted as votes cast.
However, Mr Anthony Benadie, provincial leader of the DA, argued that while spoiling one’s ballot took votes away from all parties, it has no impact on the outcome of the election since spoiled votes could not ensure any party a seat in legislature.
Yet, Mr Sibusiso Nkosi of the electoral commission in Mpumalanga, said that if voters made a mistake, they could get a new ballot. Since there are rules governing this, it can be assumed that it sometimes happens that a voter accidentally puts a cross next to a party they do not want to vote for.
According to Nkosi, as long as this is not put in the box, the voter can ask for another ballot. “Approach the presiding officer at the voting station and ask for another ballot. The ‘wrong’ one will be set aside and cancelled and you can vote for who you want,” he said.
To see if and where you are registered, SMS your ID number to 32810 or visit www.elections.org.za/
