Cape Town - Political parties wishing to contest the upcoming May 8 elections have less than two weeks to submit candidate lists to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa.
This is according to the election timetable published by the IEC in the Government Gazette last Thursday.
“Registered parties that intend to contest this election must nominate and submit a list of their candidates for the election to the chief electoral officer in the prescribed manner by March 13,” reads the notice.
The election timetable was published days after President Cyril Ramaphosa proclaimed the election date and also declared it a public holiday.
Ramaphosa authorised the National Assembly’s resolution on the dissolution of the National Assembly on February 21.
The IEC’s electoral timetable, said chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo, would notify a registered party that has submitted a list of candidates of any non-compliance by March 19.
Parties will then have until March 25 to fix the non-compliance.
The lists of candidates and accompanying documents submitted by registered parties will be available for inspection between March 19 and April 12.
“Any person, including the chief electoral officer, may object to a candidate in the prescribed manner by April 2.”
According to the notice, the commission must then decide an objection to a candidate by April 8. Appeals on the IEC decision may be lodged with the Electoral Court by April 11 and a decision made by April 16.
The list of the registered parties entitled to contest the election and the final list of candidates for each of those parties will be compiled on April 23.
The chief electoral officer will, in the following two days, issue candidates a certificate stating they will contest the elections.