IEC postpones all by-elections
The Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) has postponed all by-elections while it awaits the outcome of its appeal to the Constitutional Court over addresses on the voters’ roll.
“The Electoral Commission has decided to postpone all by-elections, including those scheduled for 6 April 2016, in the light of continued uncertainty regarding the validity of the voters’ roll where the commission is not not in possession of the voters’ addresses,” the organisation said on Monday.
“The commission will review the postponement of by-elections once the Constitutional Court has handed down judgment on the appeal, although its decision will also be informed by the imminent 2016 municipal elections which, in terms of the Constitution, must be held between 18 May and 16 August this year.”
The commission said it met with Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, David van Rooyen, and provincial MECs on Friday to discuss the postponement of the by-elections.
“The commission used the opportunity to brief the minister and MECs on the impact of the Electoral Court ruling on the inclusion of addresses on the certified voters’ roll for by-elections, and the risk of the results of any by-elections being set aside pending clarity on this matter from the Constitutional Court.”
The Constitutional Court in November last year set aside the by-elections results of Tlokwe, North West held in 2013 and ordered a re-run. The election re-run was then set for February this year.
Independent candidates in Tlokwe then complained that some voters’ names appearing on the voters roll still did not have accompanying addresses.
They then approached the Electoral Court asking the court to help interpret the Constitutional Court ruling setting aside previous by-election results. In February, the Electoral Court postponed the by-elections by six weeks and ordered the IEC to provide all candidates in the Tlokwe municipal by-elections with voters’ roll that included the addresses of all voters.
The commission lodged an urgent appeal with the Constitutional Court, with chairperson Glen Mashinini indicating that at a national scale, the Electoral Court order had created a number of uncertainties regarding the interpretation of the Constitutional Court ruling.
It was unclear whether the lack of an address on the voters roll invalidated that particular voter, Mashinini said at the time.
The final voter registration drive for the 2016 local government elections would be held over the weekend.