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With now less than 40 days until South Africans head to the polls to cast their votes, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has marked an important step in the election process by facilitating a signing of the elections code of conduct pledge for candidates and political parties contesting the election in the Western Cape.
Representatives of the Electoral Code of Conduct Commission (ECOCC), Public Protector and Human Rights Commission were present at the event, along with police and City of Cape Town law enforcement management to oversee proceedings.
Electoral officer Michael Hendrickse says there are 3,317 million registered voters in the province.
“(This) is the highest number that has ever been recorded and that speaks well for our democracy and participation. This equals just under 65% of the population of voting age of our province,” he says.
Of these registered voters, more than 45% are born 1980 and later.
Hendrickse continues that the signing of the pledge marks a significant part of the election process, along with the symbolic signing of the sample ballot paper and certificates handed to parties and candidates.
The pledge signing was held at the Dulcie September hall in Athlone on Thursday 18 April.
Hotly contested election
There are 29 parties contesting the Western Cape Provincial Legislature ballot and 34 parties and one independent candidate contesting the Western Cape regional ballot. A total of 52 parties will contest the national election. “We are calling on our public representatives to make this public commitment to abide, uphold and promote the electoral code of conduct by signing this pledge,” he says.
Some political parties were not present on the day, but Hendrickse continues that despite not signing this pledge, they are still bound by it by virtue of contesting the election.
Arch Bishop Thabo Makgoba, who is also a member of the ECOCC, opened the proceedings with a prayer, not only over the election, but for the country as a whole.
Ahead of this, he took the opportunity to share a few remarks on behalf of ECOCC. He says this election will be monumental and that civil society must prepare for it.
“The parties that have dominated politics for the past 30 years are facing the most heavily contested elections since 1994. Incumbents have to fight harder than ever before, possibly bringing out hidden sides of their parties which we have not seen before, thus giving rise to the toughest elections we have seen so far,” he says.
Makgoba also forewarned that there may be backlash from smaller parties following the elections due to the nature of the importance of this election, which could jeopardise the hard-earned reputation of the IEC.
