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THE IEC CONTINUES TO FUMBLE

That the Electoral Court has stopped the by-elections that were supposed to have been held today is no surprise.

The Independent Electoral Commission in the North West Province has covered itself with failure for quite some time. The Constitutional Court recently nullified the results of the by elections in the same wards and virtually the same court gave clear instructions as to what had to be done to rectify the situation.

In contention was the long held view that the ruling party and the IEC are in cahoots in tilting the scales towards the ANC at election time. The Con Court stated that residential addresses of voters be reflected on the voters’ rolls, an issue that opposition parties have hankered for, for quite some time.

The Chief Electoral Officer of the IEC appeared on television stating that the Con Court has not said that street addresses have to be furnished. This is in spite of what the spirit and not the letter of the legislation sets out.

It is a matter of time before we, in the opposition, whether in parliament or not, will insist on the ballot papers and their counter foils being numbered so that at the time of counting the votes reconciliation may be done with ease to put to rest the niggling feeling that ballot papers exceed the votes cast.

The last General Election of 2014 is a prime example where swathes of ballot papers were seen in around many provinces where the ruling party just scraped through.

The IEC in the North West in particular has lost two rounds in succession in respect of their ineptitude in running elections. The question is to what extent that office may continue to be charged with the responsibility to run the elections of the whole province when they cannot run by-elections of six wards.

 

Sipho Mfundisi

President: UCDP

083 469 3473




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