The
Electoral Commission has received and responded to communication from ActionSA,
one of the parties contesting the 2021 Municipal Elections, regarding the
ballot paper design.
The
Electoral Commission confirms that following the close of candidate
nominations, a series of meetings of the local Political Party Liaison
Committees were convened to enable political parties and independent candidates
participating in the November 1 Municipal Elections to sign off on the draft
ballot paper. The purpose of this exercise is to verify the completeness of
administrative processes related to candidate nomination as well as
confirmation of the registered party identifiers on the various ballots.
In
terms of the electoral prescripts, the Commission is empowered to determine the
design of ballot papers to be used in an election. This has been the case since
the advent of democracy in the country. The scheme in the design of the ward
ballots involves the following identifiers:
- The
name of the candidate
- Photo
in case of an independent candidate
- The
logo (or distinguishing mark) of the party
- The
abbreviated name of the party, where one has been registered.
In
the case of a proportional representation (PR) ballot, the cluster of
identifiers is replicated, save that the name of the candidate is replaced by
the full name of the political party. Independent candidates do not contest a
PR election.
The
use of registered particulars of a political party in the ballot paper design
is intended to obviate ad hoc and arbitrary considerations. The unique
identifiers are provided by each political party at the point of application
for registration as a party. Thus, the scheme places responsibility on the party
to register whatever details and identifiers it deems appropriate.
The
absence of the abbreviated name of ActionSA on the ward ballots is because, at
the point of registering as a party, ActionSA elected not to register an
abbreviated name or acronym. ActionSA, in their documents in which they applied
for registration as a political party, and which must be publicly lodged in
terms of the regulations, responded with a “Not Applicable” in the space where
the political party was required to indicate its abbreviated name. The party
went further to indicate that “there is no abbreviation of the name of the
party” as part of its application documentation. The application was lodged in
Government Gazette 43940, published on 27 November 2020.
There
are 14 other political parties that appear on the various ballot papers without
abbreviated names.
The
insinuation that the Commission is acting without due impartiality is without
foundation and mischievous. The onus to choose party identifiers rests with the
political party and not the Commission, and the scheme in the ballot design has
been part of our electoral management practice since the inception of
democratic local government in 2000.