IEC stands firm after 2,274 hopefuls miss nominations for November polls

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has confirmed it will not reopen the candidate nomination process after 2 274 hopefuls were not finally submitted on its online system before the 5pm deadline last Friday.

What the IEC reported

IEC chair Mosotho Moepya presented the outcome of the nomination window and said 546 of the 732 registered political parties are contesting the November local elections, a figure the commission says represents 75% of registered parties.

Of the 2 274 candidates who were captured but not submitted, the IEC said 480 were proportional representation (PR) candidates and 1 794 were potential ward candidates.

No technical glitch, IEC says

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo told the media that the commission’s report showed no technical glitches in its capturing system.

“Our report indicates no technical glitch in our capturing. We don’t have a report of no functionality in our system,”

Commission will not reopen nominations

The IEC has stated it has no intention of reopening the nomination process. The commission said it will proceed with compliance checks and compile the final list of candidates on 16 September.

Compliance checks to follow

The commission will review submissions for compliance with legislative requirements, including whether candidates completed acceptance of nomination forms, whether parties and independents paid the application deposit, and whether independents submitted the required details of registered voters supporting their candidacy.

Overall nomination figures

The IEC reported a total of 142 072 nominees for the local polls, who will contest 10 526 council seats across municipalities.

Of those nominees, 40 241 were nominated by political parties for PR seats and 100 856 will compete for ward seats. The commission also said candidates aged 36 to 55 make up 58% of those nominated.

On how nominations were submitted, the IEC reported that 299 political parties and 127 independent candidates used the online candidate nomination system, while 205 parties and 634 independents submitted nominations manually at commission offices nationwide.

Reasons for non-submission

The IEC noted that reports from some provinces indicated nominations were not submitted because of political disputes within communities. The commission said some people challenged the nomination processes, accusing their parties of using undemocratic methods to exclude individuals.

The IEC has warned it will stand by the deadline and proceed with the next stages of the election timetable.