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Delimitation

Briefing by the Electoral Commission on its readiness for 2014 elections . Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs 11 March 2014. Delimitation. Developments in Human settlement patterns have been followed until the last Registrations Weekend held on 8 and 9 February 2014;

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Delimitation

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  1. Briefing by the Electoral Commission on its readiness for 2014 elections.Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs11 March 2014

  2. Delimitation • Developments in Human settlement patterns have been followed until the last Registrations Weekend held on 8 and 9 February 2014; • Revision of the voting station network has been concluded, resulting in 22 261 voting districts (+9% on LGE 2011); • There are 1 255 voting districts which will have sub-stations (alias, voting streams);

  3. Registration of Voters • Two targeted and communication registration initiatives undertaken (March and September 2013); • Two registration weekends successfully concluded in the Republic (8 and 9 November 2013, & 8 and 9 February 2014); • Two registration weekends successfully concluded in 108 countries at 123 missions (17-19 and 24-26 January 2014); • Registration at Correctional Services countrywide concluded (5-7 February 2014)

  4. Current Registration Figures

  5. Registration vs VAP by Province

  6. Voters’ Roll – Comparison

  7. Registration vs VAP by Age Group

  8. Percentage Registration per Municipality 8

  9. Registration of Political Parties and Liaison • 196 registered political parties as at 6 March 2014 – 148 in the national sphere and 48 in the municipal sphere of government; • Political party registration is an on-going activity; • Only those political parties that are registered in the national sphere of government on the cut-off date for the submission of lists of candidates will be eligible to contest the 2014 NPE

  10. Recruitment and Training of Electoral Staff • Approximately 212 000 electoral staff members to be recruited and trained. Recruitment has started; • Presiding and Deputy Presiding Officers already recruited and training at advanced stage; • Training materials revised to adopt a modular approach – easier to organise and emphasise training content and spent define desired training period per area of content; • Risk management built into required staff numbers per municipality.

  11. Liaison • Party Liaison Committees in place across all spheres of government. Invitation extended to unrepresented parties; • Ongoing participations in JOINTS structures – providing ongoing monitoring of conditions in which the elections are to take place; • Extensive consultations with stakeholders through the National Co-ordinating Forum; • Conflict resolution panels established; • Extensive communication per electoral process, emphasising cut-off dates in terms of the cut-off dates as per the Electoral Timetable.

  12. Election Timetable…1 • 25 February 2014 - Elections proclaimed by President and Premiers. Notification of intention to vote outside of the Republic open; • 26 February 2014 - Consultations concluded with parties in the NPLC. Election Timetable gazetted by the EC. Submission of nomination documents open; • 5 March 2014 – Notice of list of addresses of voting stations made available for inspection; Notice of routes of mobile voting stations published; Cut-off date for certification of the voters’ roll;

  13. Election Timetable…2 • 12 March 2014 – Cut-off date for notification of intention to vote outside of the Republic; Cut-off date for submission of list of candidates; • 18 March 2014 – Cut-off date for the CEO to issue notices of non-compliance notices to political parties; • 27 March 2014 – Cut-off date for political parties to comply; • 28 March 2014 - Notice of inspection of candidates and accompanying documents published; 28-31 March – list of candidates and accompanying documents open for inspection;

  14. Election Timetable…3 • 1 April 2014 – Cut-off date for objections to a candidate; • 7 April 2014 – Cut-off date for the decision of objections to a candidate; • 7-17 April 2014 – Applications for special votes to Municipal Electoral Officer open; • 10 April 2014 – Cut-off date for appeals against a decision of the Commission; • 15 April 2014 – Cut-off date for deciding appeals and notifying parties

  15. Commission Determinations • The Commission has determined: • the design and of the ballot paper, the languages to be used on the ballot paper and manner in which the ballot papers have to be accounted for as required by Sec 68 of the EA, 1998; and • The reserved number of seats for each region in terms of Item 2(a) of the Schedule 1(A) to the EA, 1998 and gazetted same on 26 February 2014.

  16. Election Timetable…4 • 22 April 2014 – CEO to give effect to decisions of the Commission on objections or appeals to the Electoral Court; CEO to compile a list of parties entitled to contest elections; • 24 April 2014 – Certificates issued to candidates on a final list of candidates; • 30 April 2014 – Application and casting of special votes outside the Republic; • 5-6 May 2014 – Visitation for purposes of casting a special vote; Casting of special vote at the office of the presiding officer.

  17. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…1 • Drills have been undertaken to test the EC’s disaster recovery plans. These tests were successful; • The preparations for these elections are advanced. The results systems are undergoing independent audits. • Soon, political parties will have the opportunity to test the results systems and satisfy themselves that indeed, these systems are fit purpose.

  18. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…2 • Two dry-runs have been scheduled and all offices of the will participate in the dry-runs. This is a stress test similar to events on or soon after Election Day; • The Smart Card Identity card has been tested for use both on the ‘zip-zip’ for both registration and voting. These tests were successful;

  19. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…3 • Systems are in place for the notifications of special vote applications by voters in the country and abroad; • In every voting station, ‘zip-zips’ will carry the entire voters’ roll, with capability to identify the voting district at which the ‘zip-zip’ is used; • The ‘Voter Participation Application’ will be activated, with real data on voter participation forming part of the Election report.

  20. Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…1) • Electoral Amendment and related Regulations have been passed and now fully incorporated into training materials content; • Measures have been taken to strengthen the role of party agents at voting stations and results capturing centres (MEO offices); • Counting will commence immediately after the closure of voting stations; • Counting will be done in the presence of party agents and observers;

  21. Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…2) • Results slips will be filled following the conclusion of the count. Party agents will have the opportunity to verify and sign the result slips; • Transparent temper-proof bags will be used to secure the authenticity of result slips between VSs and MEO offices; • Result slips received at the MEO offices (where results capturing will be taking place) will be recorded to ensure completeness;

  22. Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…3) • Result slip capturing will be done using the double blind tally system – if the first and second capture match, the system will accept the captured results; • Captured results will; then be available for results auditing; • Services of independent results auditors have been sourced; • Once confirmed by auditors, the results will undergo systems exceptions testing and if they pass, they will be transmitted on the results boards;

  23. Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…4) • If captured results fail system exceptions testing, then they will be forwarded to a senior EC staff member for investigation and resolution; • All results slips will be scanned and stored on the system, with functionality to view them online as may be required by EC staff, the media and political party officials; • Political parties and the media will be given access to EC’s systems for their own verification and self assurance concerning results;

  24. Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…5) • Complaints raised by parties will be tracked and measured with respect to the length of time it has taken to resolve them. These records will be available online; • Every objection raised will be allocated a unique identifier and tracked until final determination by Members of the Commission;

  25. Information • Website (www.elections.org.za) • Facebook (facebook.com/iecsouthafrica) • Twitter (twitter.com/iecsouthafrica) • Billboards, posters, radio and television advertisements. • Check registration status • SMS ID number to 32810(cost R1) • Call 0800 11 800 (toll free from landlines) • Am I registered? (on IEC website) • Where do I vote? (on IEC website)

  26. End of Presentation Thank you

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