PARLIAMENT - Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) chairman Glen Mashinini told MPs on Tuesday they were in discussions with President Cyril Ramaphosa over setting a date for the country's sixth democratic elections set to take place next year.
Mashinini, fellow IEC commissioners and staff were briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on home affairs on its preparedness for the 2019 national and provincial elections.
"We will not rest until we meet optimally our obligation to the country and its people," said Mashinini.
"We are committed to ensuring that we deliver once more free, fair and credible elections so that it continues to strengthen also the legitimacy of our elected representatives and democracy of our country."
Granville Abrahams, IEC senior manager on electoral matters, gave MPs a list of key milestones they want to achieve before the elections.
These include the delivery of new voter registration devices by September this year, the phased-in implementation of a new party funding law to start in January next year, followed by the final voter registration weekend in February, 2019.
Abrahams said they were hoping to conclude candidate registrations by March, 2019.
The term of the current national and provincial assemblies comes to an end on May 8, meaning the IEC was preparing for the elections to take place within 90 days of this date to August 7.