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IEC returns to Concourt

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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is preparing to go back to the Constitutional Court after the electoral body was forced to postpone the scheduled rerun of elections in Tlokwe Local Municipality, North West.

IEC deputy chairperson Terry Tselane told City Press on Saturday that the IEC suffered a serious blow and that it had no other choice but to go to the Constitutional Court to seek clarity on the matter.

But he said this did not mean stopping all other processes in preparation for local government elections. President Jacob Zuma has not yet set a date for the polls, but they have to take place by August.

“The only option is to go to court. But as we proceed to seek clarity from the courts, we will not be stopping preparations to deal with the upcoming elections as stipulated by the electoral court. But we are definitely going to seek an opinion,” he said.

The Electoral Court this week ruled that the IEC had not met the requirements as set out last year in a ruling by the Constitutional Court after it was dragged there by independent candidates in Tlokwe, who cried foul over irregularities.

The court found that the IEC failed to provide the voters’ addresses on the voters’ roll and ordered it to rectify the irregularities.

This meant postponing by-elections in six of the seven wards that had been scheduled for a rerun in Tlokwe. The commission then announced the postponement of municipal by-elections in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West and the Western Cape.

Tselane dismissed assertions that the Electoral Court ruling would affect the forthcoming local government elections.

He said postponing elections by a year was not a consideration at this stage.

“As far as we are concerned, all the issues we need to deal with can be accommodated within the current time frames. We are proceeding on that basis,” he said.

“The commission has never come to a discussion or determination of the postponing of elections. We are going to continue to try to sort out everything in time.”

The commission would be using the registration weekend on March 5 and 6 to ensure people update their details, including their addresses.

However, Tselane admitted that while innovative measures had been put in place to for those with no conventional addresses, like those living in informal settlements and villages, it was still a challenge.

“The issue of the addresses being brought up, particularly at this late stage in the electoral process, is a major challenge for the organisation. We have been having this voters’ roll since 1998 and no one has ever questioned the issue of addresses. Now that it’s being raised, it is posing a serious challenge.”

He said the problem regarding addresses was a legacy issue dating back to 1998, when the IEC introduced a voters’ roll where people used only their bar-coded ID books to cast their votes.

“Nonetheless, we still have to comply with the provisions. There will still be weaknesses here and there because even if you open all the voting stations, they [voters] don’t come and update their details.”

He denied that the IEC was not ready for elections, saying there was “absolutely nothing to worry about”.

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