The Electoral Commission reports that substantial progress has been made
in preparation for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (NPE2024). We
therefore are pleased to report on the progress relating to the following milestones.
CANDIDATE NOMINATION
On April 12, the Commission issued certificates to the 14 889 candidates
who will contest 887 seats in the forthcoming elections. Nominations of
candidates closed on 8 March 2024 and following processes of verifications and
objections 70 political parties, and 11 independent candidates were published
as final contestants in these elections.
Fifteen political parties are contesting all tiers of the elections
which means the compensatory seats in the National Assembly, the nine
province-to-national elections as well as the nine provincial legislatures. A
total of 31 political parties will contest the national elections for the first
time.
An analysis of the list of candidates reflects that at 58.14% or 8 658, are
male, with female candidates at 41,86% or 6 234. Candidates in the age
category 40-49 are the majority at 4 361, followed by the 3 708 in
the 50-59 age category and the 3 406 in the 30-39 age group. Voters who
are over 60 stands at 1 924 and those between the ages of 18-29 are 1 493.
Notably, there are 15 candidates who at 18 years are also first-time
voters. Of the 15, nine are female and six are male. These candidates are
spread across eight political parties. There are 17 candidates who are aged 80
years and more. The majority 16 are male candidates standing for four political
parties leaving only one female candidate in the age category.
On gender
representation, 15 political parties have a female representation of 50% and
above. Seven parties achieved a 40% and a further 14 parties have a 30% female
representation on their lists.
BALLOT PAPERS
The finalisation of the list of candidates contesting seats in the
NPE2024 means that the Commission can now go ahead with the printing of ballot
papers for the elections.
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 the Provincial Legislatures. Although
the phenomenon of three ballots will be familiar to voters in various 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 a total of 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. This tier of the
National Assembly will also have a dedicated ballot paper. This means that
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 as follows:
The National Ballot: This ballot will
consist of a list of political parties vying for seats for 200 seats in the
National Assembly. This ballot will be used to vote for political parties.
There are currently 52 parties who will be on this ballot and the configuration
will be a dual column.
The Regional or
Province-to-National Ballots: It will have political parties and independents 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.
The 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.
The Commission has decided that the design of the
ballot papers will be underpinned by the following identifiers:
- Full registered
name of the party
- The photograph of the registered party leader
- Registered
abbreviated name of the party
- The registered
emblem or symbol of the party
In respect of independent candidate, the ballot
papers will have;
- the name of the
independent;
- the photograph
bearing the face of the independent and
- the word
“INDEPENDENT”.
The Commission urges voters to carefully review and
mark each of these three ballot papers before depositing them into the ballot
box. Our appeal to voters is to remember that they can only put one mark on
each ballot, more than one mark will result in a spoiled vote and not counted.
The
Universal Ballot Template (UBT), whose dimensions are benchmarked against the
longest ballot paper, is in production and will be available in all voting
stations. The UBT can be used by
blind and partially sighted people, low-vision users, people who are dyslexic,
and people with motor and neuron conditions which do not allow for a
steady hand.
LOGISTICS
As we announced earlier, over 95 percent of logistical supplies for
election day are already at hand. We are in the process of distributing 1 873
tonnes of material between our different warehousing and storage facilities
across the country.
VOTING STATIONS
In consort with the provisions of the election timetable, the Electoral Commission
has also published the list of addresses of the 23 292 voting stations that
will be used in these elections. 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), Limpopo (3 216). All voting
stations are now contracted with lease agreements concluded with landlords or
owners.
A list of the voting stations can be found on the Electoral Commission’s
website.
SPECIAL VOTES
Applications for special votes, for the purposes of home visits and
voting station visits, opened on 15 April 2024 and will close on 3 May
2024. Home visits are intended for those voters who are unable to travel to
voting stations whilst 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 27 and 28 May 2024.
Special votes may be accessed using one of the following modalities:
- Using our
secured online application form found at www.elections.org.za
- By SMSing your
identity number to 32249 (R1.00 per SMS) for voting station visit only.
- By visiting
your local IEC office and submitting an Appendix 1B form for a voting station
special vote.
- By visiting
your local IEC office and submitting an Appendix 1A form for a home visit
special vote. Forms can also be hand-delivered, but someone else can deliver a
form on behalf of a voter.
Special votes will also be administered at South Africa’s diplomatic
missions abroad to service 58 000 registered voters. These voters will
be provided for at the diplomatic missions of the republic.
The Electoral Commission invites South Africans who are registered on
the local segments of the voters’ roll but who may be temporarily absent from
the country to notify it of the intended absence and the mission where they
intend to vote. Such notifications must be lodged with the Chief Electoral
Officer by 22 April 2024. As of today 9 100, such notifications have
been approved.
Special votes at the diplomatic missions will take place 10 days ahead
of general voting in the country on 17 May or 18 May 2024 depending
on the weekend configuration of the country.
Those travelling out of country and between countries must take note
that the period to notify the Electoral Commission at which mission outside the
country they will be voting closes on 22 April 2024.
VOTE WHERE YOU ARE REGISTERED
Finally, voters are reminded that they may only vote at a voting station
at which they are registered. Voters who will inevitably be away from their
voting districts on election day, 29 May 2024, may give a Section 24A notice of
their intention to vote at another identified voting station by no later than
17 May 2024.
ISSUED
BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
Ensuring
free and fair elections
Centurion
For
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