42 parties vie for elections
Nthambeleni Gabara
4 March 2009
A total of 42 political parties will contest South Africa's upcoming general elections, provided their candidates' lists are approved by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
IEC Chief Electoral Officer Pansy Tlakula released the provisional list of political parties after the deadline for submissions for the candidates' lists closed at 5pm on Monday.
Of the 42 parties that submitted candidates' lists, 28 have registered to contest the national election for Parliament's National Assembly. Of these 28, 11 parties have applied to contest all nine provincial elections, 14 parties have applied to contest some provinces only, and three parties have applied to contest the national election only.
Another 14 parties have registered to participate in one or more of the provincial elections only.
Seventeen parties have registered in the Eastern Cape province, 14 in the Free State, 20 in Gauteng, 18 in KwaZulu-Natal, 18 in Limpopo, 15 in Mpumalanga, 16 in North West, 13 in the Northern Cape and 22 in the Western Cape.
While a few political parties submitted their candidates' lists late, some had submitted their lists as early as last Wednesday. Late submissions were not accepted, and these parties will have to wait for another five years in order to contest the general elections.
Tlakula said the IEC would now scrutinise the lists to ensure that parties complied with all the requirements of the Electoral Act. Parties will be informed if their lists do not comply by 6 March.
Thereafter, they will have until 10 March to correct their non-compliance, while the candidates' lists will be made available for public inspection at national, provincial and municipal offices of the IEC on 17 March.
According to Tlakula, parties that qualify to contest the elections will be invited to make public pledges to abide by the Electoral Code of Conduct on 11 March. The IEC will also use the occasion to hold a draw to determine the order in which the names of the parties will appear on the ballot paper.
She expressed her gratitude to parties for cooperating with the IEC in the manner that they had, and urged them to take their responsibilities in respect of the Electoral Code of Conduct seriously.
"The submission of candidates' lists is an important milestone on the election timetable and truly signals the start of the election period," Tlakula said. "The number of political parties participating demonstrates that these elections have generated a lot of interest in South Africa."
Source: BuaNews
