The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has released the final lists of political parties and independent candidates that will appear on the various ballot papers in the upcoming National and Provincial Elections.
It published the lists on its website on Wednesday, and has made them available at all of its offices.
New feature
According to the election management body, a new and historic feature in National and Provincial Elections (NPE) 2024 is that independent candidates will contest for seats in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.
This is after President Cyril Ramaphosa assented to the law enabling the participation of independent candidates in April 2023.
Six independent candidates will contest for seats in the National Assembly, and six will contest the provincial legislature elections.
The Electoral Code of Conduct has been in effect since the February 23 proclamation of the election date.
Electoral code of conduct
On April 4, the IEC held a special ceremony, where all national contestants publicly pledged to adhere to the Electoral Code of Conduct. They also pledged to get their members and supporters to act in a manner that is consistent with the code.
Provincial pledge-signing ceremonies at the provincial level will take place in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the IEC has approached the Constitutional Court to get clarity on its authority to approve candidates. This after the Electoral Court threw out its decision to disqualify former president Jacob Zuma from being a candidate.
The reason for this was Zuma’s previous conviction in 2021. Zuma is the presidential candidate for his newly formed Umkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK Party).
Seeking clarity
The IEC said the move to approach the Constitutional Court has got nothing to do with politics. It said this is for its future processes and mandates to be clarified.
South Africa will hold its General Election on May 29, which marks the country’s seventh democratic election.
Here is the link to the final candidate lists for the 2024 NPE: https://www.elections.org.za/pw/parties-and-candidates/candidates-list. –
- SAnews.gov.za
