Johannesburg - A total of 8651 candidates from 45 political parties are standing for the general elections, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) said on Friday.
“This is slightly fewer than the 9117 candidates who appeared on the final lists for the 2009 election,” spokeswoman Kate Bapela said in a statement.
“The electoral commission has published the final list of candidates for the May 7 national and provincial elections and has provided candidates with certificates confirming their candidacy.”
There were 2089 candidates on the national lists, 2165 on the regional lists and 4397 on the provincial lists contesting.
The parties were contesting 400 National Assembly seats and 430
provincial legislature seats.
Men continued to make up the bulk of candidates with 59.8 percent of the total compared to 40.2 percent women.
“However, gender representation continues to show steady improvement over the years: 1999 (26.76 percent), 2004 (30.65
percent) and 2009 (38.5 percent).”
She said lists in the Western Cape provincial elections showed the greatest gender equity with 43 percent women, the Northern Cape provincial lists were the lowest with 37 percent of women.
The parties with the highest percentage of female candidates were the Keep It Straight and Simple with 100 percent, the African National Congress with 85 percent and the SA Maintenance and Estate Beneficiaries Association with 76.6 percent.
Bapela said in terms of age, candidates over 40 years old comprised 64.86 percent of the total. Candidates under the age of 30 comprised just 11.8 percent.
“However, young candidates have increased by 17 percent since 2009 when just 869 of the 9117 candidates were under 30 years old.
“In 1999 there were 724 candidates under 30 years old, out of a total of 7140 candidates (10.1 percent),” Bapela said. - Sapa