Political parties have until Tuesday to rectify mistakes on their lists of proportional representation candidates for the March 1 election, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.
”Parties on the PR list have an opportunity until tomorrow [Tuesday] to correct the outstanding documentation that may not have arrived on the 19th [of January, the last day on which parties had to submit their candidates’ names to the IEC].
”On the 30th of January, we will certify the final list of candidates,” Gauteng electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said on Monday.
On February 13, the IEC will issue certificates to qualifying candidates, Mamabolo said.
He made the announcement at Monday’s handover to Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa of the 2004 electoral atlas on poll behaviour in South Africa.
The IEC has received the names of 6 500 candidates who will be contesting the 449 wards in Gauteng, 86 of whom are independent candidates.
The African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance are contesting in ”almost all” the municipalities, with a number of community-based organisations, he said.
Mamabolo said Ekurhuleni has the highest number of parties contesting the elections, with 23 parties.
”There is a lot of interest from organised community formations in Ekurhuleni, then followed by Tshwane and Johannesburg with 17 parties each.
”We are currently in a state of verifying all those 6 500 candidates that we received in the province and about 86 independents. We will finalise that.”
The IEC has introduced a scanner system for this year’s poll that will reduce the wait at voting station.
Shilowa, who was flanked by Mamabolo and commissioner Terry Tselane, said the electoral atlas will be a useful tool for political analysts, political parties and the government.
For the provincial government, Shilowa said the atlas can be used as a measure of whether it is succeeding in spreading democracy.
”I think it’s a tool that we can use also for planning purposes,” he told reporters.
In his remarks, Tselane said: ”There is a lot of interest in this election.”
He said the IEC and political parties in Gauteng will on Tuesday sign a code of conduct, whose aim is to create a conducive environment for free and fair elections. — Sapa