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ActionSA says IEC should have informed it of implications of not providing an abbreviated name

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ActionSA says the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) should have informed it about the implications of not providing an abbreviation of the party’s name at the point of its registration as a party.

The party is in the electoral court challenging the electoral commission’s decision to omit its name from the Local Government Elections ward ballot papers.

The IEC says the absence of the abbreviated name of ActionSA on the ward ballots is because it elected not to register an abbreviated name or acronym.

It says the onus rests with a party to choose which identifies it.

ActionSA’s lawyer Adila Hassim disagrees since the Municipal Electoral Act or regulations do not make filling out an abbreviation compulsory.

“The most obvious place for the commission to notify applicants of the potential consequences of not ticking the box, not filling in the box for an abbreviated name is on the applications form. The application form contains no information that the choice not to fill out an abbreviated name is at the peril of the applicant.”

“Because that is what the IEC would depict on the ward ballot paper together with its logo. It is the duty of the commission to warn applicants that in the absence of an abbreviated name only the logo will appear on the paper,” adds Hassim.

In the video below, Action SA leader Herman Mashaba claims that the IEC is sabotaging his party:

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