SEDIBENG. – A record 200 parties and 61 014 candidates will contest the 3 August 2016 Municipal Elections following the certification on 27 June 2016 of parties and candidates contesting the elections.
This is approximately 65% more parties and approximately 12% more candidates than the previous municipal elections held in 2011.
As part of the verification of compliance process, 8 350 candidates were disqualified. Of the candidates disqualified, the vast majority were disqualified for non-submission of documentation (46%), non-payment of deposit (38%) and not being registered voters in the municipality in which they wanted to contest (15%). There is a total of 4 649 unique ballot papers for the 2016 Municipal Elections:
* 4 392 ward ballot papers
* 205 local councils Proportional Representation (PR) ballot papers
* 8 metro council PR ballot papers
* 44 District Council ballot papers
Voters in metros will complete two ballot papers and voters in all other municipalities will complete three ballot papers. The Electoral Commission plans to print approximately 80 million copies of ballot papers to ensure sufficient ballots for all voters.
Of the candidates contesting the elections approximately, 60% are male and 40% are female. However, gender parity is more closely achieved on party PR lists where the gender ratio is 52 men to 48 women. When it comes toward candidates, the picture is different with 66% men versus 34% women. Of the 831 independent candidates, 86% are men and only 14% are women.
In terms of age, the average age of candidates is 44 years old (compared to 43 years in 2011). The youngest candidate is an 18-year -old, first-time voter who is standing for election in Ward 5 (EC 153) in Ingquza Hill Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape. The oldest candidate is 90 years old and is standing for election on the PR list in EC 443 in Mbizana Local Municipality, also in the Eastern Cape.
The list of candidates contesting the elections in each municipality is available for inspection at the relevant municipal office of the Electoral Commission.
