Centurion – The Electoral Laws Amendment Act (Act 1
of 2019) has come into effect from 6 March 2019 leading to a slight revision of
the election timetable to bring it into line with the amendments.
The proclamation of the commencement of the
Electoral Laws Amendment Act, the associated amendments to the Electoral Regulations,
Voter Registration Regulations and Regulations Concerning the Submission of Lists
of Candidates were all published in the Government Gazette (No. 42289)
yesterday.
The Gazette also included a correction to the election
timetable in order to incorporate provisions for the Commission to notify
political parties of candidates appearing on multiple party lists (by 26 March
2019) and providing affected parties with the opportunity to submitted revised
or substituted lists for these candidates (by 28 March 2019) in line with the amendment
of section 28 of the Electoral Act.
A further amendment to the election timetable
allows special voting through home visits and at voting stations to be
conducted over two days (6-7 May 2019 between 09h00 and 17h00).
The corrected timetable also sets voting hours for
voting abroad on 27 April 2019 to 07h00 to 19h00 at foreign missions. This was
the same as in 2014.
The three sets of regulations published give effect
to key enhancements introduced through the Electoral Laws Amendment Act. These
include:
Election regulations:
Providing
addition electronic and digital channels (SMS) for applications of special
votes
Streamlining
the special vote process for voting abroad
Removing
the requirement to affix a receipt of registration to a voter’s identity
document (because this is not possible with smartcard IDs)
Providing
for a different voting procedure for voters whose addresses are not recorded on
the voters’ roll
Making
provision for a voter to request a replacement ballot paper at any time before
they have deposited a marked ballot into the ballot box.
Clarifying
that a voter may be issued replacement ballot papers not more
than twice.
Voter registration regulations:
Regulations concerning the submission of list of
candidates:
Copies of the Electoral Laws Amendment Act,
regulations and election timetable are available on the Electoral Commission
website www.election.org.za under About Us/Document Library/Laws and
Regulations/Elections.
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ELECTORAL COMMISSION
Ensuring free and fair elections
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