The Electoral Commission (IEC) has released the lists of candidates nominated by political parties to contest the 2019 National and Provincial Elections.
Following the release of candidates, members of the public have until Tuesday to scrutinise and object to the nomination of the candidates.
A total of over 10 000 candidates have been nominated to contest the national elections and over 8 000 candidates have been nominated to contest the provincial elections. This is significantly more than the 2 089 candidates nominated for the national ballot and 6 562 candidates nominated for the provincial elections in 2014.
According to the IEC the Electoral Act, objections may be lodged against candidates on the basis that:
- They are 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.
The Constitution states that every citizen who is qualified to vote for the national assembly or provincial legislature can be a candidate. However, the exceptions include: unrehabilitated insolvents, anyone declared unsound mind by court and anyone who is convicted more than a year without the option of a fine.
A link to download the candidate lists is available from the IEC at www.elections.org.za
The age of listed candidates is significant – with the ANC median age at 51, while the median age of DA candidates is 42 and EFF candidates the youngest at 40.
There also seems to be more women included than in the 2016 election lists -with many parties are clustering closer to 50% of women candidates.
