By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says all is on track for this year’s national and provincial elections set to take place on May 29.
The commission briefed the media on its state of readiness on Tuesday.
IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said Friday, May 17 will mark another milestone, with at least 76,580 out-of-country voters expected to vote in the elections.
Mamabolo assured that all missions abroad have already received voting materials, which include ballot papers, voting booths, envelopes, and voter lists.
He said special votes will be placed in an unmarked envelope to protect the secrecy of the vote.
“After the voting process, cast national compensatory ballots in their double envelopes will be transported through a secure channel back to the national office of the Electoral Commission for counting.
“To protect the secrecy of the vote, all such special votes are first placed in an unmarked envelope, which is then inserted into a second envelope marked with the voting station and voter’s particulars for verification on the list of approved special votes.
“The envelope is then placed in the ballot box,” said Mamabolo.
Mamabolo said South Africans in nine countries will cast ballots on Friday while the rest of the countries will vote on Saturday.
Voting outside South Africa will take place on Friday, 17 May in nine countries and on Saturday, 18 May in the remaining countries. London is an exception: registered voters can vote there on either Saturday, 18 May or Sunday, 19 May.
He said voting stations will be open from 7am to 7pm local time at most foreign missions, except for in London, Washington and New York, which will be open from 7am to 9pm.
The largest international voting stations by eligible voting population are in London (24,535 eligible voters); The Hague, Netherlands (6,659); Canberra, Australia (3,674); Dubai, United Arab Emirates (3,266); and Dublin, Ireland (3,040).
By law, South Africans abroad can only vote in the country’s national elections, not in the provincial elections for the National Assembly or regional elections for the provincial legislatures.
In these elections, voters will receive three ballot papers: the national compensatory ballot for political parties, Provincial and Regional for parties and independent candidates. Voters are requested to make only one mark per ballot paper.
Mamabolo said 202,500 voting officials are undergoing training, and they will work at the voting stations.
He explained that the addition of a new category of staff to assist the presiding officer with the counting effort marks a significant step towards improving the quality of counting.
“Three such staff are being appointed for each voting station and for each sub-station where a voting centre is being operated. To this end, a total of 191,185 have been appointed, “he said.
The National Results Centre will be launched on Wednesday, May 22 at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, and will house IEC members as well as key service providers, representatives of contestants running in national elections, domestic and international observer missions, and media organisations.
Registered voters can check their voting station ahead of election day by SMSing ID numbers to 32810, using the voting station finder application on the IEC website, contacting the IEC contact centre 0800 11 800 or via the IEC cellphone app.
Mamabolo also said, the commission has approved 160 observer missions that will monitor the upcoming general elections.
The IEC said that 15 of these would be international organisations like the African Union (AU) and the Carter Center Democracy Program.
The commission has once again emphasised that Zimbabwe’s governing party, ZANU-PF, was not of part of the accredited missions.
This comes after the African National Congress (ANC) said it would be inviting officials from the party to oversee the elections.
Mamabolo said, “We have nothing to do really with their presence in the country. ZANU-PF is not an accredited observer mission, the commission has not accredited them.”