The state of disaster President Cyril Ramaphosa imposed as a result of South Africa's energy crisis, will not delay the 2024 elections, according to the Electoral Commission of SA. | gerbjan
IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya.
Moepya was addressing a meeting of the South African National Editors' Forum when he was asked about the impact the state of disaster would have on the IEC. Moepya hasn't seen the gazetted declaration of the state of disaster yet, but he said he was sure they would look at the possible impact in the coming week.However, it could have an impact on the IEC's work. For instance, if there is load shedding at night, it could affect the time it takes to count the votes.
The Constitutional Court suspended the declaration of unconstitutionality for"24 months to afford Parliament an opportunity to remedy the defect giving rise to the unconstitutionality". The new legislation would mean that in the 2024 elections, voters will be handed three ballot papers instead of the customary two. The National Assembly is made up of 400 seats, of which 200 are filled from national party lists and 200 from the nine provinces' or regional lists.
He remarked that he had never seen so much interest, so much controversy, and so much rigour and debate go into a Bill.The Bill that is expected to be adopted will contain a provision that a body must be established to review the electoral system.