Briefing by the Electoral Commission on its readiness for 2014 elections. Portfolio Committee on...
-
Upload
caitlin-grant -
Category
Documents
-
view
217 -
download
1
Transcript of Briefing by the Electoral Commission on its readiness for 2014 elections. Portfolio Committee on...
Briefing by the Electoral Commission on its readiness for 2014 elections.
Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs
11 March 2014
Delimitation
• Developments in Human settlement patterns have
been followed until the last Registrations Weekend
held on 8 and 9 February 2014;
• Revision of the voting station network has been
concluded, resulting in 22 261 voting districts (+9%
on LGE 2011);
• There are 1 255 voting districts which will have sub-
stations (alias, voting streams);
2
Registration of Voters
• Two targeted and communication registration
initiatives undertaken (March and September 2013);
• Two registration weekends successfully concluded
in the Republic (8 and 9 November 2013, & 8 and 9
February 2014);
• Two registration weekends successfully concluded
in 108 countries at 123 missions (17-19 and 24-26
January 2014);
• Registration at Correctional Services countrywide
concluded (5-7 February 2014)3
Current Registration Figures
Current registration (as certified on 05 March 2014) 25 390 150
Stats SA Voting Age Population (VAP) – Census 2012 Data 31 434 035
Target 80% of VAP 25 147 228
Exceeded Target by 242 922
4
Registration vs VAP by Province
5
Province STATS SA VAP Estimate
Certified Voters' Roll
(5 March 2014)
% Voter registration
Eastern Cape 3,794,352 3,240,059 85.4%Free State 1,685,198 1,449,488 86.0%Gauteng 7,860,280 6,063,739 77.1%KwaZulu-Natal 6,096,509 5,117,131 83.9%Limpopo 3,004,795 2,440,348 81.2%Mpumalanga 2,389,406 1,860,834 77.9%North West 2,120,381 1,669,349 78.7%Northern Cape 711,843 601,080 84.4%Western Cape 3,771,271 2,941,333 78.0%Out of Country 6,789 TOTAL 31,434,035 25,390,150 80.8%
Voters’ Roll – Comparison
6
Province 1999 2004 2009 2014
Eastern Cape 2,454,543
2,849,486
3,056,559
3,240,059
Free State 1,225,730
1,321,195
1,388,588
1,449,488
Gauteng 4,154,087
4,650,594
5,461,972
6,063,739
KwaZulu-Natal 3,443,978
3,819,864
4,475,217
5,117,131
Limpopo 1,847,766
2,187,912
2,256,073
2,440,348
Mpumalanga 1,277,783
1,442,472
1,696,705
1,860,834
North West 1,527,672
1,749,529
1,657,544
1,669,349
Northern Cape 377,173
433,591
554,900
601,080
Western Cape 1,864,019
2,220,283
2,634,439
2,941,333
Out of Country 6,789
Total 18,172,751
20,674,926
23,181,997
25,390,150
Registered % 80.00% 84.60% 84.07% 80.80%
Registration vs VAP by Age Group
7
Age group STATS SA VAP Estimate
Certified Voters' Roll
(5 March 2014)
% Voter registration
18-19 1,926,127 646,313 33.6%
20-29 9,481,294 5,759,236 60.7%
30-39 6,895,947 6,180,534 89.6%
40-49 5,301,005 5,007,501 94.5%
50-59 3,867,469 3,796,131 98.2%
60-69 2,255,911 2,264,714 100.4%
70-79 1,172,634 1,160,499 99.0%
80+ 533,647 575,222 107.8%
TOTAL 31,434,035 25,390,150 80.8%
Percentage Registration per Municipality
88
9
Registration of Political Parties and Liaison
• 196 registered political parties as at 6 March 2014 –
148 in the national sphere and 48 in the municipal
sphere of government;
• Political party registration is an on-going activity;
• Only those political parties that are registered in the
national sphere of government on the cut-off date for
the submission of lists of candidates will be eligible
to contest the 2014 NPE
Recruitment and Training of Electoral Staff
• Approximately 212 000 electoral staff members to
be recruited and trained. Recruitment has started;
• Presiding and Deputy Presiding Officers already
recruited and training at advanced stage;
• Training materials revised to adopt a modular
approach – easier to organise and emphasise
training content and spent define desired training
period per area of content;
• Risk management built into required staff numbers
per municipality.10
Liaison
• Party Liaison Committees in place across all spheres of
government. Invitation extended to unrepresented parties;
• Ongoing participations in JOINTS structures – providing
ongoing monitoring of conditions in which the elections are
to take place;
• Extensive consultations with stakeholders through the
National Co-ordinating Forum;
• Conflict resolution panels established;
• Extensive communication per electoral process,
emphasising cut-off dates in terms of the cut-off dates as
per the Electoral Timetable. 11
Election Timetable…1
• 25 February 2014 - Elections proclaimed by
President and Premiers. Notification of intention to
vote outside of the Republic open;
• 26 February 2014 - Consultations concluded with
parties in the NPLC. Election Timetable gazetted by
the EC. Submission of nomination documents open;
• 5 March 2014 – Notice of list of addresses of voting
stations made available for inspection; Notice of
routes of mobile voting stations published; Cut-off
date for certification of the voters’ roll; 12
Election Timetable…2
• 12 March 2014 – Cut-off date for notification of intention
to vote outside of the Republic; Cut-off date for
submission of list of candidates;
• 18 March 2014 – Cut-off date for the CEO to issue
notices of non-compliance notices to political parties;
• 27 March 2014 – Cut-off date for political parties to
comply;
• 28 March 2014 - Notice of inspection of candidates and
accompanying documents published; 28-31 March – list
of candidates and accompanying documents open for
inspection; 13
Election Timetable…3
• 1 April 2014 – Cut-off date for objections to a
candidate;
• 7 April 2014 – Cut-off date for the decision of
objections to a candidate;
• 7-17 April 2014 – Applications for special votes to
Municipal Electoral Officer open;
• 10 April 2014 – Cut-off date for appeals against a
decision of the Commission;
• 15 April 2014 – Cut-off date for deciding appeals
and notifying parties 14
Commission Determinations
• The Commission has determined:
– the design and of the ballot paper, the languages
to be used on the ballot paper and manner in
which the ballot papers have to be accounted for
as required by Sec 68 of the EA, 1998; and
– The reserved number of seats for each region in
terms of Item 2(a) of the Schedule 1(A) to the
EA, 1998 and gazetted same on 26 February
2014.
15
Election Timetable…4
• 22 April 2014 – CEO to give effect to decisions of the
Commission on objections or appeals to the Electoral
Court; CEO to compile a list of parties entitled to contest
elections;
• 24 April 2014 – Certificates issued to candidates on a
final list of candidates;
• 30 April 2014 – Application and casting of special votes
outside the Republic;
• 5-6 May 2014 – Visitation for purposes of casting a
special vote; Casting of special vote at the office of the
presiding officer. 16
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…1
• Drills have been undertaken to test the EC’s
disaster recovery plans. These tests were
successful;
• The preparations for these elections are advanced.
The results systems are undergoing independent
audits.
• Soon, political parties will have the opportunity to
test the results systems and satisfy themselves that
indeed, these systems are fit purpose.
17
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…2
• Two dry-runs have been scheduled and all offices of
the will participate in the dry-runs. This is a stress test
similar to events on or soon after Election Day;
• The Smart Card Identity card has been tested for use
both on the ‘zip-zip’ for both registration and voting.
These tests were successful;
18
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…3
• Systems are in place for the notifications of special
vote applications by voters in the country and abroad;
• In every voting station, ‘zip-zips’ will carry the entire
voters’ roll, with capability to identify the voting district
at which the ‘zip-zip’ is used;
• The ‘Voter Participation Application’ will be activated,
with real data on voter participation forming part of the
Election report.
19
Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…1)
• Electoral Amendment and related Regulations have been
passed and now fully incorporated into training materials
content;
• Measures have been taken to strengthen the role of party
agents at voting stations and results capturing centres (MEO
offices);
• Counting will commence immediately after the closure of
voting stations;
• Counting will be done in the presence of party agents and
observers;
20
Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…2)
• Results slips will be filled following the conclusion of the
count. Party agents will have the opportunity to verify and
sign the result slips;
• Transparent temper-proof bags will be used to secure the
authenticity of result slips between VSs and MEO offices;
• Result slips received at the MEO offices (where results
capturing will be taking place) will be recorded to ensure
completeness;
21
Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…3)
• Result slip capturing will be done using the double
blind tally system – if the first and second capture
match, the system will accept the captured results;
• Captured results will; then be available for results
auditing;
• Services of independent results auditors have been
sourced;
• Once confirmed by auditors, the results will undergo
systems exceptions testing and if they pass, they
will be transmitted on the results boards; 22
Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…4)
• If captured results fail system exceptions testing,
then they will be forwarded to a senior EC staff
member for investigation and resolution;
• All results slips will be scanned and stored on the
system, with functionality to view them online as may
be required by EC staff, the media and political party
officials;
• Political parties and the media will be given access
to EC’s systems for their own verification and self
assurance concerning results;23
Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…5)
• Complaints raised by parties will be tracked and
measured with respect to the length of time it has
taken to resolve them. These records will be
available online;
• Every objection raised will be allocated a unique
identifier and tracked until final determination by
Members of the Commission;
24
Information
• Website (www.elections.org.za)
• Facebook (facebook.com/iecsouthafrica)
• Twitter (twitter.com/iecsouthafrica)
• Billboards, posters, radio and television advertisements.
• Check registration status
– SMS ID number to 32810 (cost R1)
– Call 0800 11 800 (toll free from landlines)
– Am I registered? (on IEC website)
• Where do I vote? (on IEC website)
25
End of PresentationThank you
26