Discussions around combined elections will not affect 2021 local govt elections – IEC

The proposal to have a combined, synchronised election can only take place after the 2021 local government elections and next year’s planned vote would be unaffected.

This was according Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo who spoke to News24 on Wednesday, saying there were significant positive and negative factors that must be considered in the debate.

“It can be done, but it probably will require a constitutional amendment, if it were to be given effect. The view of the IEC at the moment is that it can’t be done ahead of the 2021 elections. If it is to happen, it has to be considered in subsequent elections. It is a matter that we believe requires a national policy debate which must involve all sectors of society,” he said.

Currently, South Africa held two sets of elections every two years, with one focusing on choosing municipal leaders and the other on electing national and provincial leaders. Plans for the polls, as with many other aspects of normal life, had been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw large gatherings being discouraged in favour of social distancing and staying at home. The global pandemic had also resulted in the IEC considering different ways the polls could take place.

While the EFF was vocal regarding its call for all elections to be combined, the ANC went with a consultative process.

During a media briefing this week, EFF leader Julius Malema said the EFF had already written to the governing party proposing that the two collectively work on a joint approach.

“We proposed that next year’s elections must be postponed and all of the elections must be held in 2024 so that we allow the IEC to synchronise the elections,” said Malema.

Mamabolo said changing the law was not that simple, as certain complexities must be considered during the national policy discussions on the matter.

“Among other issues, is the increase complexion in ballot production. We have got to look at the impact on the numbers of ballots per voter and the ability of the commission to produce the results within the stipulated seven day period. We must also look at the impact of that decision in the vibrancy of local democracy – will synchronised elections foster a new dynamism and subsuming a local government into national and provincial elections will dampen the dynamism of local democracy? Those are the all the questions that must be pondered and researched as an input [on] the national policy discussion,” he said.

By-elections

The IEC was currently preparing for the November by-elections which involved 95 wards across the country.

Mamabolo said preparations had gone extremely well, noting that the voter registration campaign was not disrupted.

“In fact, we found that voters were eager and willing to comply with the measures we introduced for compliance in respect of the measures to counter the transmission of Covid-19,” he said.

The next phase for the electoral commission was the candidate nomination process which Mamabolo said had received a great deal of interest from contestants, both within political parties and from independent candidates.

Of the 95 wards due for contests, the IEC had so far received 444 contesting candidates.

Special voter applications had been opened until 30 November, he added. Those eligible, included the elderly and persons in advance stages of pregnancy who would vote on 10 November, a day before voting stations were expected to open.

“The ball is rolling. We are preparing logistics. We are procuring PPE and we should be able to start disseminating that next week and the ballot printing process is underway.”

Commenting on the voter registration weekend, Mamabolo said the registrations could have been better.

“The figures over the weekend, we had approximately 20 000 registrations across the 95 wards. Is it ideal? No, but let’s not lose sight that already in this affected world, there is over 600 000 people who are registered. So the challenge is to energise the people who are already registered and ensure that they come out and hopefully the campaigns the parties are now running will result in voter turnout,” he said.

Mamabolo said applications for special votes could be sent via the IEC website, by SMS or a handwritten application at the IEC offices at local municipalities.

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