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Legislative framework

Readiness for 2011 Local Government Elections (LGE) Presentation by the Chief Electoral Officer Adv. Pansy Tlakula PC on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) 22 MARCH 2011. Legislative framework. Electoral Commission Act (No. 51 of 1996) Electoral Act (No. 73 of 1998)

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Legislative framework

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  1. Readiness for 2011 Local Government Elections (LGE)Presentation by the Chief Electoral Officer Adv. Pansy TlakulaPC on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) 22 MARCH 2011

  2. Legislative framework • Electoral Commission Act (No. 51 of 1996) • Electoral Act (No. 73 of 1998) • Local Government: Municipal Structures Act (No. 117 of 1998) • Local Government: Municipal Electoral Amendment Act, 2010 • Electoral Regulations

  3. Electoral system • Mixed system: closed PR List and ward constituency • 2 municipal elections have been held: 2000 and 2006

  4. Major legislative amendments • Section 55: Special voting • Section 65: Objections material to result of election

  5. Special Votes • Section 55 • “Any voter who is unable on voting day to cast his or her vote at the voting station in the voting district where he or she is registered, may in the prescribed manner, apply and be allowed prior to voting day to cast a special vote within that voting district.”

  6. Objections material to result of election • Section 65 • New sect 65 defines what “any aspect of an election” means, enhances the powers of the EC when deciding an objection, reviews the period within which the objection must be disposed of, clarify the powers of the Electoral Court, and most importantly, re-regulates the process to enhance effectiveness and fairness. • Objections would now be filed before or after the results;

  7. Objections material to result of election • And includes alleged unlawful— • (i) interference with or obstruction of election activities or • processes in the vicinity of, at or in a voting station; or • (ii) interference with or influencing, intimidation or obstruction of • voters or prospective voters in the vicinity of, at or in a voting • station.

  8. Voter Registration • Two registration weekend activities were conducted: • 5 and 6 February 2011; and • 5 and 6 March 2011 • Before the registration weekend of 5 and 6 February 2011, there were 22 667 345voters on the voters’ roll • Following the first registration weekend, the Voters’ Roll stood at 23 161 975 • Following the second registration weekend, the voter’s roll currently stands at 23,6 million voters

  9. Voter Registration Cont… • Over the two registration weekends a total of 2 731 967 persons registered or re-registered as voters apart from numerous others who verified their details on the voters’ rolls that were available at every voting station for public inspection and this was a very good outcome. • The provincial spread of new registrations for the two registration weekends indicated that most occurred in KZN (285 208) followed by Gauteng (200 751) and the Eastern Cape (157 581).

  10. 1st voter registration weekend: 5 & 6 February

  11. 1st voter Registration Weekend Cont.. • A total of 1 406 702 voters registered over the first registration weekend. • KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of new registrations with 134 864 followed by Gauteng with 91 708, and Eastern Cape with 90 933.

  12. 2nd voter registration weekend: 5 & 6 March • 1 325 265 persons visited the 20 864 voting stations that were opened for the second voter registration of 5 and 6 March to register as first time voters or to re-register. • 547 651 new registrations took place; which is some 41% of the registration activities for the weekend.  • The highest number of new registrations for the last weekend were in KZN (150 344) followed by Gauteng (109 043), Western Cape (68 297) and the Eastern Cape (66 648).

  13. Current registration figures

  14. Voters’ roll comparison

  15. Progress to date • 1994: 10 000 voting stations, no voters’ roll • 1999: 14 650 VDs, 18,1 million registered voters (avg 1 240 reg voters per VD) • 2000: 14 988 VDs, 18,4 million reg voters (1 233) • 2004: 16 966 VDs, 20,6 million reg voters (1 219) • 2006: 18 873 VDs, 21 million reg voters (1 116) • 2009: 19 726 VDs, 23,1 million reg voters (1 171) • 2011: 20, 859VDs,23,7 million reg voters

  16. Civic and Democracy Education (CDE) • The Commission is implementing CDE using: • Skilled facilitators at local, provincial and national level. • Partnership with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) – sectoral CSOs (Democracy, Human Rights, Peace and Elections) with educational mandates complementing those of the Commission. • Collaborative Stakeholder Engagement (C9s, state departments, private sector, MDDA, Unions, etc) and Training of Facilitators at all levels • Collaboration with organisations dealing with special sectoral stakeholders (SANCB, DEAFSA, etc.) • Outreach Projects

  17. Communication Awareness Campaigns • Worked with media houses to train journalists covering elections to ensure understanding of the electoral processes; • Working with community, commercial, and the public broadcaster on programming of communication awareness and voter education campaigns on both radio and television. • Radio remains the leading disseminator of information and campaigns correlates with this reality. • New initiatives that have contributed to reaching the youth – these are: • Twitter – www.twitter/iecloveyoursa • Mobile site – mobi.elections.org.za • Maintaining the toll-free number, website and sms facilities, all of which have generated significant hits since the beginning of this year

  18. Election Timetable • On 03 March, the Acting President KgalemaMotlantheannounced the date of election to be 18 May 2011. • The Voters’ Roll was closed on 10 March following proclamation of the date of election by the Acting Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr. Nathi Mthethwa on 10 March. • The Commission consulted with the Party National Liaison Committee on the Election Time-Table on 11 March 2011. • The Election Time –Table was published in the Government Gazette on 11 March 2011.

  19. Election Timetable The election timetable outlines and gives time frames for the following processes; The Voters’ Roll to be used for the 2011 municipal elections was certified and made available for inspection on 18 March 2011. By 17h00 on 25 March,the Political Parties and Independent candidates who intend to contest the 2011 municipal elections must notify the Commission of their intention to participate in these elections. By the same time on that day, Political Parties and nominators of independent candidates must nominate ward and independent candidates and submit party lists of candidates. Payment of the prescribed deposit must also be made on that day by 17h00.

  20. Election Timetable The election timetable outlines and gives time frames for the following processes; Cont… • Political Parties or independent candidates will be notified of any non-compliance regarding outstanding documents on 4 April • Political Parties and independent ward candidates will have until 17h00 on 8 April tosubmit any outstanding documents to the Commission. • The Commission will compile a list of the parties that will be contesting the elections, and certify their candidate lists on 12 April, The Commission will also on that day compile a list of candidates that will be contesting in each ward.

  21. Election Timetable The election timetable outlines and gives time frames for the following processes; Cont… • 15 April will be the starting date for the submission of applications for special votes. • On 21 April, the Commission will give notice that the copies of a list of voting stations, and their addresses are available at municipal offices and will also give notice of the routes for mobile voting stations, including locations and estimated times of stopping. • On 29 April, the Commission will issue certificatesto persons whose names appear on a party list and to each ward candidate. • At 17h00 on 3 May,the applications for special votes will close

  22. Election Timetable The election timetable outlines and gives time frames for the following processes; Cont… • From 08h00 to 17h00 on 16 May, registered voters who qualify for special voting will cast their special votes at the voting station in the voting district where they are registered. • From 08h00 to 17h00 on16 and 17 May, the Commission’s voting officers will visit the homes of registered voters who qualify to cast special votes and who had applied for home visits.

  23. Election deposits To contest an election parties or independent ward candidates must pay an election deposit

  24. Voting Districts

  25. Voting Centres

  26. Registered Parties

  27. Election officials • Approx. 200 000 election officials for the elections • Training programme being rolled out and close to 200 000 officials will be trained before voting day • Criteria for the appointment of election officials (presiding and deputy presiding officers, in particular) include: • Presiding (and deputy presiding) officers must not in the last five years have held political office or been a candidate in an election or have been politically active for a political party • must not in the last five years have held office in an organization that has party political affiliations or aims. • Party Liaison Committees (PLCs) consulted on appointment of presiding officers before contracts are concluded

  28. Voter turnout in our previous elections

  29. Challenges • Generally lower voter turn-out in municipal elections (despite an even higher registered population for the 2009 National and Provincial Elections); • Disputed ward and municipal boundaries; • More complex logistical demands (also the multiplicity of ballot papers making Braille Template extremely difficult) • Parallel structures within political parties

  30. Thank you!

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