THE Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has received more than 40 submissions regarding objections to political party candidates contesting the national and provincial elections.
This followed the 5pm cut-off deadline on Tuesday for the public to lodge objections after the IEC in March published a list for each political party totalling about 9000 candidates.
According to a timetable guideline set out in the Electoral Act, objections must be received by 7 April, and any appeals to the ruling must be submitted to the Electoral Court by 10 April. The deadline for all Electoral Court rulings is 15 April and the final list of candidates will be published on 22 April.
‘It is not yet possible to indicate how many candidates have been objected to as the submissions must now be captured and processed,’ said the IEC statement.
‘Some of the submissions relate to more than one candidate and it is possible that more than one objection has been received for the same candidates.’
The IEC or any member of the public is able to object to a candidate on the basis that he or she is not qualified to stand in the election; did not sign an acceptance of nomination; or did not sign an undertaking that they will abide by the commission’s code of conduct.
The IEC announced last month that a total of 29 parties would contest the elections, four fewer than the 33 that had signalled their intention to put their names on the national ballot paper.
The Africa United Party, the Dagga Party, the Lekgotla for Democracy Advancement and the South African Progressive Civil Organisation failed to pay the necessary election deposit and were, therefore, excluded from the ballot.
This still remains the highest number of parties to contest a democratic national election in South Africa’s history.
