Security agencies will safeguard elections, IEC says ahead of May 29

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it is confident law enforcement and security agencies will safeguard the upcoming elections.

IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo said violence has no place in electoral processes.

Briefing the media on preparations for the May 29 national and provincial polls, he said the elections have been arranged in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the law, which have a bearing on the preparations.

“As far as security matters are concerned, the country's security agencies are responsible to act and I am sure they have plans to safeguard the elections, the election materials, IEC staff, voters and the property of all South Africans,” he said.

The commission confirmed it has made substantial progress in preparations for the polls, announcing that 15 political parties are contesting all tiers of the elections, including the compensatory seats in the National Assembly, the nine provincial elections and nine legislatures.

“On April 12, the commission issued certificates to the 14,889 candidates who will contest 887 seats in the elections. Nominations of candidates closed on March 8 and following processes of verifications and objections, 70 political parties and 11 independent candidates were published as final contestants in the elections.”

The IEC revealed 31 political parties will contest the national elections for the first time, with an analysis of the candidate list reflecting 58.14% or 8,658, are male, with female candidates at 41.86% or 6,234.

On gender representation, 15 political parties have a female representation of 50% and above. Seven parties achieved 40% and 14 parties have 30% female representation on their lists.

Mamabolo said the commission was ready to print ballot papers.

The 27.79-million registered voters will receive three ballot papers to elect candidates to represent them in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

“The use of the three ballots follows the amendment of the Electoral Act, which was signed into law in April 2023. This amendment revised the electoral system to allow independent candidates to contest in the regional (province-to-national) tier of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

“Though the phenomenon of three ballots will be familiar to voters in local municipalities, it will be new to voters in metropolitan areas and for the first time in general elections for national and provinces.

“There are 400 contested seats in the National Assembly. The proportional representation compensatory 200 seats will be contested by political parties only and there is a dedicated ballot paper for this tier of the National Assembly.”

The remaining regional or province-to-national 200 seats will be contested by independent candidates and political parties, which will also have a dedicated ballot paper, Mamabolo said.

“This means National Assembly elections will be based on two ballot papers (national ballot and the newly introduced regional or province-to-national ballot). Therefore in respect of the elections of the National Assembly, voters may elect a preferred party on the national ballot and elect another preferred party or independent on the regional ballot.”

However, in respect of provincial elections, voters will elect a preferred party or independent candidate on a single provincial ballot.

The three ballot papers are:

• National ballot: This ballot will consist of a list of political parties vying for 200 seats in the National Assembly. This ballot will be used to vote for political parties. There are 52 parties on this ballot and the configuration will be dual-column.
• Regional or province-to-national ballots: It will have political parties and independent candidates contesting for the seats reserved for each province in the National Assembly. Voters will use this ballot to elect a political party or an independent candidate to represent them in the National Assembly. The number of contestants range from 30 to 44 on regional ballots. The configuration of this ballot is single-column.
• Provincial ballots: This ballot is unique to each province and includes parties and independent candidates competing for seats in each respective provincial legislature. This ballot will allow voters to choose either a political party or an independent candidate to represent them in provincial legislatures. The number of contestants range from 24 to 45 on the provincial legislatures ballots.

Regarding ballot design, the commission has revealed the papers will be underpinned by certain identifiers which include the full registered name of the party, a photograph of the registered party leader, the registered abbreviated name of the party and the registered emblem or symbol of the party.

In respect of independent candidates, the ballot papers will have the name of the independent, a photograph bearing the face of the independent and the word “independent”.

The commission said more than 95% of logistical supplies for election day are at hand and it is in the process of distributing 1,873 tonnes of material between its warehousing and storage facilities across the country.

Voting stations and their respective addresses have been published of all 23,292 stations in the country.

“The route for mobile voting stations has also been published. The highest number of voting stations will be in KwaZulu-Natal (4,974), Eastern Cape (4,868) and Limpopo (3,216). All voting stations are contracted with lease agreements concluded with landlords or owners.”

Mamabolo clarified that applications for special votes, whether for home visit purposes or voting station visits, opened on Monday and close on May 3. 

“Home visits are intended for those voters who are unable to travel to voting stations while special votes at voting stations are for everyone who is unable to be at the voting station on election day.”

Special voting will be conducted on the two days preceding election day, on May 27 and 28.

TimesLIVE