IEC deadline looming for parties seeking to contest elections

IEC deadline looming for parties seeking to contest elections

The road to the May 29 general elections will venture into new territory on Friday as political parties rush to make it onto the ballot.

Elections IEC
Anastasi Mokgobu

The Independent Electoral Commission gave parties who want to participate until Friday to submit all required documents. 

This includes close to 60,000 signatures for new parties and an election deposit of R750,000, which has to be paid by all parties.

All independent candidates and political parties who intend to contest are required to submit nomination requirements by 5 pm on Friday.

The commission will issue notices of non-compliance after verifying the submitted nomination documents.

The notices will be issued on 18 March 2024 for parties to rectify non-compliance by 20 March.

The IEC says provisional lists of candidates will be published for inspection on 26 and 27 March. 

Newly registered political parties spent the last several weeks on the streets asking South Africans for signatures to be able to contest national and provincial elections.

Rise Mzansi and ActionSA were amongst the first to finalise processes with the IEC this week, putting them closer to being on the ballots.

Rise Mzansi's Mabine Seabe says they have met all the requirements, including the monetary deposits. 

"This is over and above complying with the signature requirements for unrepresented political parties.

“It is worth noting that RISE Mzansi is one of the few, if not the only, unrepresented political parties that have managed to meet the signature requirements nationally and in all nine provinces.

“Over the weekend, the RISE Mzansi National Leadership Collective signed off on all 19 of its candidate lists, namely nine regional-to-regional, nine regional-to-national, and one national-to-national lists. 

“We have a formidable list of new leaders who we will present to the people of South Africa in the coming weeks," said Seabe.

While ActionSA has been in the political space since the 2021 local elections, the party has not had an opportunity to contest national elections.

The party's Samkelo Mgobozi said all their processes have been concluded.

"The requirements for signatures for ActionSA to contest the elections was something which was known about since last year and the challenge was welcomed by our leadership structures as an opportunity to engage more South Africans about ActionSA.

“ActionSA’s election deposits have been paid in full, and that will ensure that the party will contest nationally and in each of the nine provinces. This emerged as the plan for ActionSA arising from the 2021 local government elections, and the party has been building structures on the ground in all nine provinces ever since.

“Candidate lists have been submitted for the National Assembly and provincial legislatures that combine diversity, excellence, youth and experience in a manner that will disrupt these bodies that have become beacons of failure to the South African people," said Mgobozi.

Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane also announced during a press briefing on Thursday that his party has submitted 140 000 signatures and all other required documents.

"Over the past four weeks, our activists, candidates and supporters have been to all corners of the country asking South Africans for a mandate to stand for election on 29 May. Today we can announce we have received over 140 000 signatures submissions, more than double what is required by law. These signatures will be hand delivered to the IEC today, and qualifies BOSA to contest nationally and in all nine provinces.

We are grateful to the people of South Africa for giving us this mandate and we will endeavour to run a clean and hopeful campaign to inspire millions of people who are tired of the status quo and want real change," said Maimane.

On parties already represented in Parliament, the IFP was among the first to confirm that they have concluded all required processes with the IEC.

The party's president, Velenkosini Hlabisa, said the necessary papers were signed off, and all submissions have been sent to nine provinces and the National Assembly.

"We have finalised all our lists on Wednesday, and all our lists contain necessary numbers for each and every ward we are contesting," 

The party will launch its manifesto at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Sunday.

At the same time, the National Freedom Party's Canaan Mdletshe said the party remains hopeful it will be able to meet the deadline.

"We are facing a lot of challenges as a political party, in particular when it comes to paying the deposit.

As the party, we want to contest provincial and national elections, which means we must pay R750,000. It is a lot of money who don't get funds from donors or good samaritans," he said.

For the Democratic Alliance, the party's federal council chairperson, Helen Zille, took to social media platform X, confirming that the party has pressed "submit"  on the candidate list for the National Assembly.

 "With me are Thandiswa Zonke, Celeste Brady, and Johann Coetzee, who did an enormous job getting us here," wrote Zille.

Meanwhile, at Luthuli House, the ANC has reportedly called a special National Executive Committee meeting to decide the fate of nominees who have been fingered for corruption in the state capture report.

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