Municipal election proclamation date imminent: IEC

Briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on home affairs on the Electoral Commission of South Africa's (IEC's) readiness to conduct the municipal elections, Moepya indicated they were at an advanced stage of preparedness.

"Proclamation is imminent. In the next few days it can be expected that the minister [of cooperative governance and traditional affairs] will proclaim," he said.

President Jacob Zuma has already announced August 3 as the date for the elections, but an official proclamation of the date was required in terms of the law.

The proclamation would signal the official closure of the voters' roll, meaning no one would be able to register to vote after the date appears in the government gazette.

After the proclamation, the IEC was expected to draft an electoral timetable.

"Once that has happened political parties will be called the next day…we will consult on that timetable…," said Moepya.

There are currently 26.3 million names on the voters' roll, 44 percent more than during the 1999 municipal elections.

"We have 14.4 million people who are women and 11.8 million men on the roll," said Moepya.

"The biggest gain we've had in this election in terms of registration was people under the age of 30."

There were 357 parties registered with the IEC as of May 13, 154 of them registered in the municipal sphere.

The longest voters' roll in the last municipal elections in 2011 was in the City of Cape Town, with Moepya indicating this trend was set to continue.

"It is particularly important...that the Western Cape leads with 61 political parties," he said.

"Limpopo follows the Western Cape with 30 political parties." - ANA