Political parties given a week to submit candidate lists

Pretoria - The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says political parties intending to contest the May 7 general election have one week to submit their candidate lists and pay their deposits.

In terms of the Election Timetable published last week, political parties have the period from the proclamation of elections until the date determined in terms of the timetable to submit their candidate lists and pay their deposits to the IEC.

The period for submission of candidates, supporting documentation and election deposits ends at 5pm on Wednesday, 12 March.

Political parties contesting the election of the National Assembly may submit regional lists and national list or just regional lists, while those contesting the provincial elections must submit a list of candidates for each provincial election.

According to the IEC, the lists of candidates may not exceed the number of seats in the respective legislative bodies.

The number of candidates on the national list of the National Assembly must not exceed 200, as this is the number of seats reserved for the national list allocation. 

The Electoral Commission said there will be no opportunity to supplement the lists of candidates following the declaration of results.

In the event that a party wins more seats than the number of candidates on their list, the IEC said such extra unallocated seats will be forfeited.

Political parties contesting all elections will submit a total of 19 lists (one national, nine regional and nine provincial).

With an election imminent, the Commission must determine the reserved number of regional seats per province.

The regional lists are used to determine half of the 400 seats in the National Assembly. The Commission’s determination of regional seats was published in the Government Gazette on 26 February 2014 as follows:

The allocations were assigned using the most recent voter registration numbers for the provinces following the final registration weekend.

The candidate lists and documentation will be available for inspection by the public, political parties and other interested stakeholders at the national office of the Electoral Commission from 28 March to 31 March.

Anyone wishing to lodge an objection against a candidate is required to do so in writing to the Commission not later than 1 April. They are also required to serve a notice of objection on the party concerned.

The deposit for parties contesting the National Assembly is R200 000 (up from R180 000 in the previous election) while parties contesting provincial legislatures will pay R45 000 (up from R40 000) per provincial election.

A party contesting the national and all provincial elections will therefore be required to pay a deposit of R605 000. These rates were last increased in 2009.

Parties need only to win one seat in the National Assembly or in a provincial legislature to get their deposit back. - SAnews.gov.za