SELECT COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SERVICES
19 OCTOBER 2010
PRESENTATION ON THE LOCAL
GOVERNMENT: MUNICIPAL ELECTORAL
AMENDMENT BILL, 2010
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Introduction
Background
Problem statement
Proposed Amendments
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1. Introduction
• Following on the 2006 Local Municipal and 2009
National and Provincial election debriefing reports and
sessions, attention was given to those areas of the
current legislation that may need remedial amendments.
• The Electoral Commission, acting in terms of section 5
of the Electoral Commission Act, 1996, reviewed the
current legislation, in particular the Local Government:
Municipal Electoral Act, 2000, and, after having
consulted, inter alia, the NPLC made recommendations
to the Minister of Home Affairs for amendments to this
Act.
• The Minister of Home Affairs thereupon introduced MEA
Bill, 2010 now serving before this Committee.
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2. Background
•
•
•
•
•
•
The main objective of the Bill is to amend the Local
Government: Municipal Electoral Act, 2000, with regard
to the following:
Insertion of a prescribed election timetable outline;
Revision of provisions relating to nomination of
candidates;
Insertion of new provision to regulate central payment of
prescribed deposits by parties contesting an election;
Revision of powers of presiding officers to alter
boundaries of voting stations when necessary;
Revision of provisions regulating the number of party
agents permissible in a voting station;
Clarification of provisions relating to assistance to
voters;
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2. Background (cont’d)
• Insertion of new provision to allow for special votes and
the procedure related thereto;
• Enhancement of the powers and functions of the
Commission and the Electoral Court in relation to the
determination and declaration of results;
• Revision of provisions relating to objections material to
results of an election and the procedure related to the
submission, handling and resolution of such an objection
by the Commission and/or Electoral Court.
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3. Problem Statement
1. The 2009 National and Provincial Debriefing Sessions
identified certain areas in the current legislation that
need remedial or enhancing amendments.
2. These sessions offer the Commission with an
opportunity to appraise the effectiveness of the current
regulation of elections on a continuous basis.
3. The Commission is of the view that for efficient
preparation and management of the 2011 local
government elections, we needed to better deal with the
following areas:
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3. Problem Statement (cont’d)
•
•
The Act makes reference to an election timetable but
there is no specific outline of such a timetable. The
current Act does not specifically link any act or
submission of documents to a specific date and time that
may be envisaged in the timetable. Previously, the
Commission used the outline prescribed in the Electoral
Act, 1998.
Save for provisions of the Code, there is no obligation in
the
current
Act
for
the
representatives
of
parties/candidates to bind themselves to the Code and
declare that none of the candidates are not disqualified
from standing for election (also with independent
candidates)
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3. Problem Statement (cont’d)
• In terms of section 158(1) of the Constitution, 1996,
membership of a council is limited inter alia to a person
who qualifies to vote i.t.o section 157(5) of the
Constitution, read with section 7 of the Act. However,
the Commission does not have the power to remove a
person who is not on that municipality’s segment of the
VR from the party list or if he/she is an independent
candidate.
• Parties have submitted that the requirement for
“certified” copies of ID’s is onerous and unnecessary as
the Commission has other means of confirming details
of candidates.
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3. Problem Statement (cont’d)
• The Act, in particular section 14(1), does not allow for
payment of deposits for candidates contesting in an
election to be paid centrally. This obviously creates an
administration problem for parties who intend to contest
an election in different municipalities throughout the
country.
• Once boundaries are determined by the PO i.t.o. section
21, the current Act does not authorise him/her to redetermine such boundaries if it is necessary to ensure
proper control and security at that VS. This can,
however, be done in the NPE i.t.o. section 66(3) of the
Electoral Act.
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3. Problem Statement (cont’d)
• Section 39 limits party agents to two per voting station.
This would equally be applicable to large voting stations
like Joubert Park. The problem would be where parties
want to have a presence in all rooms of such large VS.
• Section 48 is currently not clear on the responsibilities of
voting officers w.r.t. assistance to voters, in particular,
voters with physical disabilities and which disabilities
may be included in this category, and who can assist a
voter who cannot read (illiteracy).
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3. Problem Statement (cont’d)
•
•
The current section 55 prohibits the Commission from
making any special arrangements for voting on any day
other than voting day. This essentially excludes persons
like security officers deployed during elections from
exercising their right to vote. At the same time, the
security and integrity of elections/results are of pivotal
importance.
Section 5(1)(n) of the ECA, obligates the Commission to
declare results of an election within 7 days. The
Commission may, because of certain circumstances
beyond its control need more than 7 days to declare
results. There is no exception and this may invariably
and unnecessarily lead to by-elections.
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3. Problem Statement (cont’d)
• The current section 65 is not clear with regards matters
that may premise objections material to results, the
extent of the powers of the Commission and the import
of decisions that the Commission may take.
• Against the backdrop of the responsibility to ensure and
promote conditions that are conducive to free and fair
elections, the current Act is sometimes not specific
enough to authorise the Commission to act in a
particular manner to protect the freeness and fairness of
the elections.
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4. Proposed Amendments: Clause 1
• Current: Section 11 of the Act requires the Commission
to compile and publish an election timetable. Unlike the
EA, this Act does not have a pro forma election
timetable.
• Amendment: Seeks to insert a new schedule with a pro
forma election timetable, and to regularise the inclusion
in the timetable of a time and day by which acts must be
performed and/or documents submitted in terms of the
Act.
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clause 2 (section 14: PR)
• Current: Unlike in the EA, parties wanting to contest a
PR local government election are required to only
submit their notice of intention to contest, a party list and
proof of payment of the prescribed deposit. The copy of
the ID attached to the party list must be certified.
• Amendment: The clause adds the following(a) that when registering to contest the election, the
authorised representative of the party must submit an
undertaking to bind the party, supporters, members,
candidates to the Code and a declaration that all
candidates qualify;
(b) that the copy of the ID need not be certified;
(c) that the candidate on the list must be registered as a
voter on that municipality’s segment of the VR
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Clause 3 (section 17: wards)
• Current: Parties and independent candidates not
required to submit a declaration and an undertaking.
• Amendments: In addition to the current requirements,
the nomination must be accompanied by a declaration
that the candidate is not disqualified from standing in the
election, and an undertaking to be bound by the Code.
Copy of ID need not be certified.
• Current: If parties or independent candidates omit to
submit certain required documents, there is no second
opportunity to resubmit such documents.
• Amendments: EC will be required to notify the party or
independent candidate of such omission, and indicate
the cut-off date for submission of omitted documents.
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Clause 4
• Current: section 14 of the Act requires parties to pay
the prescribed deposit at the MEO office.
• Amendment: Parties participating in elections in more
than one municipality may make payment of such
deposit at one central point.
• Note: That EC requests that clause 4 be swapped with
clause 3. This is based on the fact that the provisions of
the new section 17A will be dealing only with PR
candidates, and would therefore be logical to follow on
section 14 in the Act.
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Clause 5
• Current: Once the PO has determined and demarcated
the boundary of a VS i.t.o. section 21, there is no
provision that allows for the changing of the boundary
should changed circumstances necessitate that in order
to secure proper control and security at the VS. EA has
such a provision.
• Amendment: The PO, after consultation with party
agents and members of the security services present at
the VS, will have authority to re-determine and redemarcate the boundary.
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Clause 6
• Current: In terms of section 39, appointment of party
agents limited to 2 per party and one per independent
candidate per VS.
• Amendment: In cases where a VS caters for very large
number of voters, and voting process is divided into
streaming in separate rooms, the EC may allow more
than two agents for parties and more than one agent for
independent candidates.
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Clause 7
• Current: Section 48 prohibits a PO or any voting officer
from assisting a voter who requires assistance due to
physical disability as opposed to those who are unable
to read. This category of voters does also not expressly
include persons who are blind or have other visual
impairments.
• Amendment: The PO, if and when asked, may assist
the voter with a disability, in voting.
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Clause 8
• Current: Section 55 does not allow for any special
votes. Voting must occur on voting day and in the voting
district where a voter is registered.
• Amendment: Any person who will not be able to vote
on voting day in his/her VS may apply to vote on a day
prior to voting as shall be determined by the EC.
However, such a voter must still vote in his/her VD.
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Clause 9
• Current: Section 64 obligates the EC to determine and
declare election results within 7 days (section 5(1)(n) of
ECA). No exceptions are permitted.
• Amendment: Should the EC, through circumstances
beyond its control, need more than 7 days to declare
results, then it can invoke this amendment on
application to and approval by the Electoral Court.
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Clause 10
• Current: I.t.o Section 65, any interested party may lodge
an objection with the EC concerning any aspect of an
election that is material to the declared result. EC must
then decide the objection within 3 days and reject the
objection, amend or rescind the result. A party aggrieved
by the decision of the EC may appeal to the Electoral
Court.
• Amendment: This will define what “any aspect of an
election” means, enhance powers of the EC when
deciding an objection, review the period within which the
objection must be disposed of, clarify the powers of the
Electoral Court, and most importantly, re-regulate the
process to enhance effectiveness and fairness.
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