Briefing by the Electoral Commission on its readiness for 2014 elections.

Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs

11 March 2014

Delimitation

• Developments in Human settlement patterns have

been followed until the last Registrations Weekend

held on 8 and 9 February 2014;

• Revision of the voting station network has been

concluded, resulting in 22 261 voting districts (+9%

on LGE 2011);

• There are 1 255 voting districts which will have sub-

stations (alias, voting streams);

2

Registration of Voters

• Two targeted and communication registration

initiatives undertaken (March and September 2013);

• Two registration weekends successfully concluded

in the Republic (8 and 9 November 2013, & 8 and 9

February 2014);

• Two registration weekends successfully concluded

in 108 countries at 123 missions (17-19 and 24-26

January 2014);

• Registration at Correctional Services countrywide

concluded (5-7 February 2014)3

Current Registration Figures

Current registration (as certified on 05 March 2014) 25 390 150

Stats SA Voting Age Population (VAP) – Census 2012 Data 31 434 035

Target 80% of VAP 25 147 228

Exceeded Target by 242 922

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Registration vs VAP by Province

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Province STATS SA VAP Estimate

Certified Voters' Roll

(5 March 2014)

% Voter registration

Eastern Cape 3,794,352 3,240,059 85.4%Free State 1,685,198 1,449,488 86.0%Gauteng 7,860,280 6,063,739 77.1%KwaZulu-Natal 6,096,509 5,117,131 83.9%Limpopo 3,004,795 2,440,348 81.2%Mpumalanga 2,389,406 1,860,834 77.9%North West 2,120,381 1,669,349 78.7%Northern Cape 711,843 601,080 84.4%Western Cape 3,771,271 2,941,333 78.0%Out of Country 6,789 TOTAL 31,434,035 25,390,150 80.8%

Voters’ Roll – Comparison

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Province 1999 2004 2009 2014

Eastern Cape 2,454,543

2,849,486

3,056,559

3,240,059

Free State 1,225,730

1,321,195

1,388,588

1,449,488

Gauteng 4,154,087

4,650,594

5,461,972

6,063,739

KwaZulu-Natal 3,443,978

3,819,864

4,475,217

5,117,131

Limpopo 1,847,766

2,187,912

2,256,073

2,440,348

Mpumalanga 1,277,783

1,442,472

1,696,705

1,860,834

North West 1,527,672

1,749,529

1,657,544

1,669,349

Northern Cape 377,173

433,591

554,900

601,080

Western Cape 1,864,019

2,220,283

2,634,439

2,941,333

Out of Country 6,789

Total 18,172,751

20,674,926

23,181,997

25,390,150

Registered % 80.00% 84.60% 84.07% 80.80%

Registration vs VAP by Age Group

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Age group STATS SA VAP Estimate

Certified Voters' Roll

(5 March 2014)

% Voter registration

18-19 1,926,127 646,313 33.6%

20-29 9,481,294 5,759,236 60.7%

30-39 6,895,947 6,180,534 89.6%

40-49 5,301,005 5,007,501 94.5%

50-59 3,867,469 3,796,131 98.2%

60-69 2,255,911 2,264,714 100.4%

70-79 1,172,634 1,160,499 99.0%

80+ 533,647 575,222 107.8%

TOTAL 31,434,035 25,390,150 80.8%

Percentage Registration per Municipality

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Registration of Political Parties and Liaison

• 196 registered political parties as at 6 March 2014 –

148 in the national sphere and 48 in the municipal

sphere of government;

• Political party registration is an on-going activity;

• Only those political parties that are registered in the

national sphere of government on the cut-off date for

the submission of lists of candidates will be eligible

to contest the 2014 NPE

Recruitment and Training of Electoral Staff

• Approximately 212 000 electoral staff members to

be recruited and trained. Recruitment has started;

• Presiding and Deputy Presiding Officers already

recruited and training at advanced stage;

• Training materials revised to adopt a modular

approach – easier to organise and emphasise

training content and spent define desired training

period per area of content;

• Risk management built into required staff numbers

per municipality.10

Liaison

• Party Liaison Committees in place across all spheres of

government. Invitation extended to unrepresented parties;

• Ongoing participations in JOINTS structures – providing

ongoing monitoring of conditions in which the elections are

to take place;

• Extensive consultations with stakeholders through the

National Co-ordinating Forum;

• Conflict resolution panels established;

• Extensive communication per electoral process,

emphasising cut-off dates in terms of the cut-off dates as

per the Electoral Timetable. 11

Election Timetable…1

• 25 February 2014 - Elections proclaimed by

President and Premiers. Notification of intention to

vote outside of the Republic open;

• 26 February 2014 - Consultations concluded with

parties in the NPLC. Election Timetable gazetted by

the EC. Submission of nomination documents open;

• 5 March 2014 – Notice of list of addresses of voting

stations made available for inspection; Notice of

routes of mobile voting stations published; Cut-off

date for certification of the voters’ roll; 12

Election Timetable…2

• 12 March 2014 – Cut-off date for notification of intention

to vote outside of the Republic; Cut-off date for

submission of list of candidates;

• 18 March 2014 – Cut-off date for the CEO to issue

notices of non-compliance notices to political parties;

• 27 March 2014 – Cut-off date for political parties to

comply;

• 28 March 2014 - Notice of inspection of candidates and

accompanying documents published; 28-31 March – list

of candidates and accompanying documents open for

inspection; 13

Election Timetable…3

• 1 April 2014 – Cut-off date for objections to a

candidate;

• 7 April 2014 – Cut-off date for the decision of

objections to a candidate;

• 7-17 April 2014 – Applications for special votes to

Municipal Electoral Officer open;

• 10 April 2014 – Cut-off date for appeals against a

decision of the Commission;

• 15 April 2014 – Cut-off date for deciding appeals

and notifying parties 14

Commission Determinations

• The Commission has determined:

– the design and of the ballot paper, the languages

to be used on the ballot paper and manner in

which the ballot papers have to be accounted for

as required by Sec 68 of the EA, 1998; and

– The reserved number of seats for each region in

terms of Item 2(a) of the Schedule 1(A) to the

EA, 1998 and gazetted same on 26 February

2014.

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Election Timetable…4

• 22 April 2014 – CEO to give effect to decisions of the

Commission on objections or appeals to the Electoral

Court; CEO to compile a list of parties entitled to contest

elections;

• 24 April 2014 – Certificates issued to candidates on a

final list of candidates;

• 30 April 2014 – Application and casting of special votes

outside the Republic;

• 5-6 May 2014 – Visitation for purposes of casting a

special vote; Casting of special vote at the office of the

presiding officer. 16

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…1

• Drills have been undertaken to test the EC’s

disaster recovery plans. These tests were

successful;

• The preparations for these elections are advanced.

The results systems are undergoing independent

audits.

• Soon, political parties will have the opportunity to

test the results systems and satisfy themselves that

indeed, these systems are fit purpose.

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…2

• Two dry-runs have been scheduled and all offices of

the will participate in the dry-runs. This is a stress test

similar to events on or soon after Election Day;

• The Smart Card Identity card has been tested for use

both on the ‘zip-zip’ for both registration and voting.

These tests were successful;

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT)…3

• Systems are in place for the notifications of special

vote applications by voters in the country and abroad;

• In every voting station, ‘zip-zips’ will carry the entire

voters’ roll, with capability to identify the voting district

at which the ‘zip-zip’ is used;

• The ‘Voter Participation Application’ will be activated,

with real data on voter participation forming part of the

Election report.

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Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…1)

• Electoral Amendment and related Regulations have been

passed and now fully incorporated into training materials

content;

• Measures have been taken to strengthen the role of party

agents at voting stations and results capturing centres (MEO

offices);

• Counting will commence immediately after the closure of

voting stations;

• Counting will be done in the presence of party agents and

observers;

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Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…2)

• Results slips will be filled following the conclusion of the

count. Party agents will have the opportunity to verify and

sign the result slips;

• Transparent temper-proof bags will be used to secure the

authenticity of result slips between VSs and MEO offices;

• Result slips received at the MEO offices (where results

capturing will be taking place) will be recorded to ensure

completeness;

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Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…3)

• Result slip capturing will be done using the double

blind tally system – if the first and second capture

match, the system will accept the captured results;

• Captured results will; then be available for results

auditing;

• Services of independent results auditors have been

sourced;

• Once confirmed by auditors, the results will undergo

systems exceptions testing and if they pass, they

will be transmitted on the results boards; 22

Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…4)

• If captured results fail system exceptions testing,

then they will be forwarded to a senior EC staff

member for investigation and resolution;

• All results slips will be scanned and stored on the

system, with functionality to view them online as may

be required by EC staff, the media and political party

officials;

• Political parties and the media will be given access

to EC’s systems for their own verification and self

assurance concerning results;23

Ensuring the Credibility of Elections (…5)

• Complaints raised by parties will be tracked and

measured with respect to the length of time it has

taken to resolve them. These records will be

available online;

• Every objection raised will be allocated a unique

identifier and tracked until final determination by

Members of the Commission;

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Information

• Website (www.elections.org.za)

• Facebook (facebook.com/iecsouthafrica)

• Twitter (twitter.com/iecsouthafrica)

• Billboards, posters, radio and television advertisements.

• Check registration status

– SMS ID number to 32810 (cost R1)

– Call 0800 11 800 (toll free from landlines)

– Am I registered? (on IEC website)

• Where do I vote? (on IEC website)

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End of PresentationThank you

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