2024 elections: 70 more political parties applied to IEC post 2021

The Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) voting ballot paper is getting bigger after applications from 70 new political parties in the past two years.

Of the 70 that applied so far, 60 were successfully registered, while 10 were rejected, the IEC data sent as part of reply to questions showed.

The 60 parties added to the more than 500 that were already registered, bringing the number to a staggering 560 parties.

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With independent candidates looking to contest for the first time, the ballot paper is expected to be larger compared to the previous elections.

‘Not all parties will make it to the ballot’

While there is a rush to register political parties and contest the crucial 2024 polls, not all of the 560 parties will contest.

This is because a little more than 200 of them are confined to certain regions and are registered to contest municipal elections only.

The rest of the parties – more than 300 – can contest both national and local elections.

According to the IEC, not all of the 300 parties will make it to the ballot paper because of the stringent requirements.

“Many parties are able to register but most of them are unable to comply with the requirements. The ballot paper is designed to accommodate all who qualify.

“We cannot predict how many parties will be on the ballot paper as there are still independent candidates to consider, but the ballot will be longer this time,” the commission said.

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The IEC requirements include various fees, documentation, mandatory signatures and adherence to the strict election timetable which does not accommodate late submissions.

Parties that fail to renew their registration in January every year as required face deregistration.

There are 14 national political parties represented in Parliament after the 2019 national elections.

Rejected parties

New parties are rejected if they do not comply with the requirements of the Electoral Commission Act of 1996.

A party is turned down if its name, symbols, abbreviations and colours are similar to an already registered party.

“Following research into the ballot paper design in 2018 which showed that voters use the party logo as the primary distinguishing identifier to select their party, more prominence has been given to party logos on the ballot paper to make it easier for voters to identify their party of choice and to limit votes cast inadvertently for other parties,” said the IEC.

The heightened political environment ahead of 2024 saw several new parties registered in recent weeks.

These included Rise Mzansi, Xiluva founded by former DA mayor Bongani Baloyi, uMkhonto WeSizwe (MK) formed by ex-MK member Jabulani Khumalo, Operation Dudula and the African Congress for Transformation (ACT) started by former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule.

READ MORE: Smaller parties ‘starting to play a bigger role’ in SA ahead of 2024 elections

The following are the 10 parties that were refused registration-:

• African Independent National Congress (AINC)
• Azania Youth in Action (AYA)
• Economic Freedom Party (EFP)
• Familist Movement for Change (FMC)
• Friends of SA (FOSA)
• Lesedi La Dichaba Movement (LLDM)
• Movement For Change (MFC)
• New Force (NF)
• Open Democracy (OPEN)
• SA National Civic Organisation (SANCO)

Additional voting districts

Meanwhile, the IEC has increased voting districts from 23,148 in 2021 to 23, 296.

Unlike wards, voting districts are not political boundaries but are the creation of the IEC for the purpose of electoral efficiency and planning.

Each voting district is serviced by one voting station only, said the commission.

“You may only register and vote in the voting district in which you live. Once registered, your name will appear only on the voters’ roll for the voting district at which you registered.

“This minimises the possibility of a voter voting more than once in an election.”

There are more than 26,1 million South Africans registered on the voters’ roll to date.

At least 55,32% of them are female, while 44,68% are male.

The IEC is scheduled to officially launch the 2024 elections next week in Johannesburg.

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