NELSPRUIT – The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it is ready to ensure free and fair general elections on May 7.
The IEC, which organises the elections, is tasked with ensuring it’s free and fair and to observe the process impartially and independently of parties and candidates. The commission held a legislative workshop for members of the media at Protea Hotel on Friday.
This year, there are 1 680 voting stations in Mpumalanga. The good news for registered voters, who are unable to vote in the voting district where they are registered, is that they can vote for the national assembly at any voting station in the country. They will also be able to vote for their provincial legislature at a voting station in the province where they are registered but have to sign a Section 24A form at the voting station.
Regarding the concerns about the freedom of voters, Mr Sibusiso Nkosi from the electoral commission in Mpumalanga, said that on election day political parties were allowed to set up tables outside the demarcated voting stations. While there was no rule against how far they should be from the stations, the presiding officer at each station would have the power to remove them.
The IEC made it clear these were manned by party enthusiasts while party agents were accredited by the IEC to be inside the voting station to observe voting, counting and the calculation of election results. Each registered political party is allowed two representatives at each voting station and four party agents for each counting venue as well as four party agents for venues used to work out the overall election results.
Mr Marco Granelli, senior manager of communications for the IEC, explained that political parties were bound in their campaigning by the same advertising- authority standards that govern commercial advertising. Hence, a party was not allowed to campaign by directly disparaging another.
Citizens also have the right not to vote or to spoil their votes where they don’t want to vote for any of the parties contesting the election. The IEC noted that forcing someone to register or not to register as a voter, trying to vote more than once, destroying voting materials and publicly disclosing how a person voted, were election crimes.
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