The elections will go ahead regardless of Con Court rulings
The IEC gave a briefing to the press ahead of the official launch of their pre-election campaign launch.
The Electoral Commission (IEC) held a media briefing as they ready themselves for the polls next April.
The Northcliff Melville Times has outlined the most important takeaways from the session below.
Thabo Masemula, the Gauteng Provincial Officer, said, “These elections will be unlike others as independent candidates will be on the ballots for the first time.”
There are currently two cases before the Constitutional Court that involve the IEC but ‘none will derail the elections regardless of their outcomes’.
“We hope for rulings though in the next few weeks.”
Broadly speaking, one deals with seat allocation in the national assembly, and the other with requirements for independent candidates to stand.
He says, “The holding of elections and how they should be run will not change regardless of anticipated rulings.”
“Depending on the outcomes from the apex court we will pivot and implement changes if needed. If a change is needed to the Electoral Act, it might only be brought into effect for the following polls due to time practicalities.”
The National Assembly has 400 seats in a system of proportional representation meaning you get seats based on the population size. There 200 are national seats. The remaining 200 are regional seats which are divvied up proportionally. For the first time, independent candidates and political parties can vie for them.
“We believe in the 200/200 split with no overhang. This means that proportionally a party cannot get more seats than it would as per the population,” said deputy CEO of operations Masego Sheburi.
StatsSA just released new figures which may bring changes in the legislature and the splits for regional seats.
For each 100 000 people, one seat is awarded but with parameters. No party can get less than 30 with a top limit of 80 for practical reasons. Gauteng- for example- with the newly released population figures, may gain a few more but would probably need 130, which is not possible. Same for the Northern Cape which gets 30 seats despite there not being enough people for thirty.
The other court challenge is the number of signatures required for independents to enter the race. It is currently at 15 000 with Acton SA saying it should only be 1 000, the number needed to register a political party.
The revised seat allocations will be announced after the first voter registration weekend is held in the middle of next month.
For the first time, there will be three ballots on which to vote at the elections:
- National: Only political parties
- Regional: For the province – both political parties and independent candidates for parliament
- Provincial legislature – both political parties and independent candidates
There is a third court battle that deals with what happens to a seat held by an independent candidate following their death or removal. “Bigger parties say it should go to them, but there are challenges,” said Masemula.
In April next year, casting your vote at a polling station other than where you are registered will not be possible on the day unless you have alerted the IEC to the need before voting day. “One could apply for this at the time of voting for people like the media or IEC officers who are away from their voting area because they are working on election day for example. This led to abuse of the system where people could go from station to station voting if they managed to remove the ink on their finger for example. This will now not be possible.”
Talking of voter apathy in particular the youth vote, Moagisi Sibanda, senior civic education manager for the IEC said, “We only run the election but do not govern or have any sway in terms of how the political parties manage themselves or run the country.”
She says where people are unhappy, disillusioned, or angry with politicians, their frustration should be targeted at the right people and not those who facilitate voting. “We make sure procedurally elections are free and fair, nothing more.”
George Mahlangu, IEC chief executive said, “Political parties are prohibited from receiving money from international governments, state-owned entities and criminal organisations and syndicates. We are currently looking into one party with regards to possible funding irregularities and will divulge more as we are able to.”
William Brid, director at Media Monitoring Africa painted a grim picture of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be hugely problematic. He used an example of a fake TikTok presidential address by President Cyril Ramaphosa speaking to South Africans after the match between France and South Africa over the weekend. “Although this fake video was harmless, the technology of this kind could easily be used to spread damaging information utilising the faces and voices of political leaders towards creating opportunities for senseless violence such as xenophobic attacks, as an example.”
He cautioned people to examine where their news is originating and unless it comes from an established media house or known individual for consumers of the information to be cautious about reading and spreading fake news.
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