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Voters may under our current electoral system not be able to directly elect their political representatives for Parliament and the legislatures, but at least they have the right to object to candidates nominated by political parties contesting the national and provincial elections on 8 May. Voters now have until may not directly elect their political representatives may not have a say now have until next week 17:00 PM on 2 April to lodge objections.

This week the Independent Electoral Commission released lists of candidates nominated by political parties. In terms of the electoral Act voters can object to candidates based on the following:

That a candidate is not qualified to stand for elections;
There is no prescribed acceptance of nomination signed by the candidate; and/or
There is no prescribed undertaking signed by the candidate, that the candidate is bound by the Code of Conduct.

In terms of the Constitution every citizen who is qualified to vote for the national assembly and/or provincial legislature is eligible to stand for election except:

Unrehabilitated insolvents;
Anyone declared to be of unsound mind by a court of the Republic and/or
Anyone who is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine either in South Africa or outside the country if the offence would have been an offence if committed in South Africa. This disqualification ends five years after the sentence has been completed.

All objections can be submitted to the national office of the IEC or emailed to objections@elections.org.za. The objectionms must include:

The objector's full names, address and contact details;
The full particulars (name, ID number and party) of the candidate/s being objected to;
Anyone who is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine either in South Africa or outside the country if the offence would have been an offence if committed in South Africa. This disqualification ends five years after the sentence has been completed and
Detailed supporting documentation supporting the objection (if any).

The Commission will consider and make a determination on all objections and notify the objectors and affected parties of their finding by 8 April 2019.Thereafter a party, candidate or objector aggrieved by the decision of the Commission has until 11 April 2019 to appeal to the Electoral Court.

See IEC statement and party lists here:

https://www.elections.org.za/IECOnline/2019-Candidate-Lists

Source: IEC

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