PRETORIA, May 15 (NNN-SANEWS) — The Electoral Commission Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, says it’s all systems go for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections.
South Africans will go to the polls on Wednesday, May 29, to elect the leadership of the seventh administration out of the 70 political parties and 11 independent candidates that were published by the IEC as final contestants in these elections.
In total, there are over 14,903 candidates vying for 887 seats in the National and Provincial Legislatures. There are 27.79 million registered voters.
Moreover, out-of-country voting is scheduled to take place in 111 foreign missions. More than 78,000 South African citizens living in other countries will cast their vote on May 17, 18 and 19.
“In these elections, voters will receive three ballot papers: the national compensatory ballot for political parties, provincial and regional for parties and independent candidates,” Mamabolo said.
Addressing media in Pretoria on the state of readiness for the General Elections, Mamabolo reminded voters to make only one mark against a party or candidate of their choice.
“One ballot, one mark,” he said.
Mamabolo said lease agreements for 23,303 permanent voting stations have been signed and concluded.
“Of these, 62% are schools, 9.7% are places of worship and the balance of 28% include all other categories, such as community halls and other municipal facilities.”
Mamabolo said the IEC is in the final stages of training 202,500 voting officials, who will discharge the responsibility of administering the electoral process in the voting stations.
“The addition of a new category of staff to assist the presiding officer with the counting effort is another significant step towards improving the quality of counting.”
According to Mamabolo, three such staff will be appointed for each voting station and for each sub-station where a voting centre is being operated.
“To this end, a total of 191,185 staff have been appointed,” he said.
As part of final preparations, Mamabolo said the Commission will launch the national Results Operations Centre (ROC) on Wednesday, May 22.
“The national ROC will be based at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg. It will house Commission members, as well as representatives of key service providers such as Eskom and Parliament, representatives of contestants running in the national elections, domestic and international observer missions, and media organisations.
“The Commission is pleased to share that a record 160 organisations, with 5,000 observers domestically and from around the world, will be observing South Africa’s 2024 General Elections,” Mamabolo said.
Mamabolo explained that about 15 of the observer organisations are international and include the African Union, the Carter Centre’s Democracy Program, and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. — NNN-SANEWS
