Today, 26 March 2024, marks yet another milestone in the candidate nomination process ahead of South Africa's National
and Provincial elections scheduled for 29 May 2024.
Parties intending to contest
the elections had until 17h00 on 25 March 2024 to revise their lists and inform the Commission
if they had nominated candidates who also appeared on the list of another party
or who were nominated as independent candidates. In all, there were 42
candidates appearing on more than one party list implicating 39 parties.
Furthermore, one candidate was nominated as an independent and also appeared on
a list of a party.
The focus in the evolving
candidate nomination process shifts to a period within which interested persons
may inspect the lists of candidates and raise objections against candidates. To
this end, the Commission will on 26 and 27 March 2024,
between 09h00 and 17h00, make the lists with the names of independent and
political party candidates available for inspection at its national office,
each of its nine provincial offices and local offices in
each municipality. Copies
of the documents accompanying the lists are available for inspection at the
Commission’s national office between 09h00 and 17h00.
In all, 14 662 candidates have been nominated to contest the 887
seats available in the National Assembly and the nine legislatures. The spread
of the candidates is as follows: 4 323 candidates have been nominated to
contest the compensatory seats in the National Assembly (contested by parties
only), 3 596 candidates have been nominated to contest the regional seats
in the National Assembly (contested by party candidates and independents) and
6 743 candidates have been nominated to contested seats in the provincial
legislatures (contested by party candidates and independents).
The biggest ballot paper will contain 56 contestants. This is the ballot
for the compensatory seats in the National Assembly. The biggest regional
election ballot will be in the Gauteng region with 40 political parties and 2
independent candidates. Similarly, the biggest ballot in respect of provincial
legislature elections will be in Gauteng with 42 political parties and 2
independent candidates.
Six independent candidates will contest the regional elections and six
will contest the provincial legislature elections. The region with the most
number of independent candidates is the Limpopo region with three (3)
candidates.
Any person may object to the nomination of a candidate. Such objections
must be lodged with the Commission by 17h00 on 27 March 2024. An objection may
be raised on the basis that an independent candidate or nominating party has
failed to submit the signed prescribed acceptance of nomination or that there
is no signed prescribed undertaking, that the candidate is bound by the
electoral code of conduct.
More significantly, an objection may be on the basis that a candidate is
not qualified to stand in the election. In this regard section 47 and 106 of
the Constitution are instructive. The sections provide that every citizen who
is qualified to vote for the National Assembly is eligible to be a member of
the Assembly, except:
- Anyone
who is appointed by, or is in the service of the state and receives
remuneration for that appointment or service;
- Permanent
delegates to the National Council of Provinces or members of a provincial
legislature or a Municipal Council;
- Unrehabilitated
insolvents;
- Anyone
declared to be of unsound mind by a court of the Republic or,
- Anyone
who, after this section took effect, is convicted of an offence and sentenced
to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine, either in the
Republic, or outside the Republic if the conduct constituting the offence would
have been an offence in the Republic, but no one may be regarded as having been
sentenced until an appeal against the conviction or sentence has been
determined, or until the time for an appeal has expired. A disqualification
under this paragraph ends five years after the sentence has been completed.
The Commission will decide the objections by 28 March 2024. The
objector, registered party or nominated candidate may appeal against the
decision of the Commission to the Electoral Court by 2 April 2024.
The final list of candidates contesting the elections will be published
by the Commission on 10 April 2024.
Voters are reminded that they may only vote at a voting station in which
they are registered. Voters who will unavoidably be away from their voting
districts on election day may give notice of their intention to vote at another
identified voting station by 17 May 2024.
ISSUED BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
Ensuring free, fair and credible
elections
For media
queries: Please contact Kate Bapela on 082 600 6386
For
media interviews: Email requests to [email protected]
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IEC on: