The IEC will be responding to legal challenges to the recently promulgated Electoral Amendment Act next week.
The Electoral Commission will file papers to the Constitutional Court in defense of the Act on the 8th of August.
The Act, which allows Independent Candidates to contest national and provincial elections, is the result of a Constitutional Court Judgement in June 2020, which declared the Electoral Act of 1998 unconstitutional for stipulating election to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures, may only be attained through membership of political parties.
IEC Deputy CEO, Masego Shiburi says there are at least two court challenges filed with Constitutional Court – the first being from an organisation called the Association of Independent Candidates.
“They are only challenging the split of the seats in the National Assembly. You will recall there are 400 seats in parliament. So, the challenge is that, that must be adjusted from 200 … it must be 350 seats that are distributed in the regions and 50 seats that are contested by political parties. That is as we understand it is the crux of the first case. The second case is a much more broader challenge. It raises a number of issues; unfairness in how seats are calculated; unfairness in how vacancies that are left by independents are filled.”
National and provincial polls 2024 | IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Office, Mawethu Mosery:
