Poll delay ‘may pose challenges’

The 2024 general election’s ball is now in President Cyril Ramahosa’s court… but the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is worried that if he doesn’t announce the date soon, it will be pressed for time to carry out the necessary legal, logistic and other preparations.

The IEC’s workload has since increased with the introduction of independent candidates to contest the national and provincial elections for the first time since 1994.

The commission must print three sets of ballot papers to be used by each voter, which has increased the workload.

All systems go for the preparations

But IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo assured the voters yesterday that it’s all systems go for the preparations.

The IEC said it had given Ramaphosa as much information as it could for him to decide on which date the polls should be held.

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He usually consults the IEC first and then political parties to get a consensus before publicly declaring it. He is expected to declare the date during his State of the Nation Address in parliament on 8 February.

The date would be proclaimed in the Government Gazette, marking the official start of the election period. As is the practice, the president will also declare the election date as a public holiday.

The IEC will finalise the preparation of ballot papers and other logistics. The parties and independent candidates will also be able to produce their election material, informed by the election date.

More than 69 000 staff hired

On Wednesday, the IEC announced that more than 69 000 staff have been hired to undertake the election process, including the final in-person voter registration this weekend.

But online registration will continue until the election date is announced.

ALSO READ: IEC recorded nearly 500 000 registrations since last voter registration weekend

Mamabolo said as soon as Ramaphosa had announced the election date, the voters’ roll would be closed at midnight of the same day. He encouraged voters to visit voting stations to register, or to check their registration status.

He reminded voters that people must vote at a station where they are registered. The exception was that voters may only vote outside their district only if they notified the IEC by the stipulated time in terms of the new law.

Seats in parliament

He said out of the 400 seats in parliament, 200 were reserved for political parties and the remaining 200 seats were to be divided according to regions or provinces that will be represented in the National Assembly.

The ballot papers for various regions will differ according the number of political parties and independent candidates contesting in that region.

Meanwhile, home affairs announced yesterday that it would support this weekend’s voter registration by opening its offices for an extra two hours today and the whole day tomorrow and on Sunday.

This is to enable potential voters to collect their ID cards.