LISTEN | ‘Take time to know your candidates’: IEC urges voters to get informed

The IEC is urging voters to adequately inform themselves about the contesting candidates in their wards. They are also confident that their counting process will be fair.

29 October 2021 - 06:00 By Bulelani Nonyukela and Demi Buzo
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South Africans will go to the local polls on Monday.
South Africans will go to the local polls on Monday.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

The deputy chief electoral officer at the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), Mawethu Mosery, is urging voters to educate themselves on how to identify their candidates and avoid casting their votes incorrectly.

In an interview with TimesLIVE, Mosery mentioned some of the identifiers to look out for on the ballot papers.

He said voters must not only know their municipality name but must know their ward number, preferred candidate and party they want to vote for, among other things, to avoid confusion in the voting booth.

How to identify your ward candidate:

He said candidates are allowed to contest more than one ward, and in the unlikely event that they win more than one, the candidate will have to choose one ward and the others will be filled in the next by-elections.

Mosery also commented on the fairness of the electoral counting process.

“We have observers, both domestic and international, who are they observing the process throughout,” he said.

Mosery's comments on the transparency of the counting process:


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