Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
19 March 2024 | 10:54 a.m. SAST
1 minute read

Image: Electoral Commission of South Africa

The introduction of three separate ballot papers marks a significant departure from previous elections and is a result of a 2020 constitutional court judgment that deemed the electoral act unconstitutional for not accommodating independent candidates.

The electoral act was subsequently amended in February 2023, allowing independents to contest regional, national, and provincial seats.

However, with the novelty of the three-ballot system come challenges, particularly regarding voter education and preparation.

Mawethu Mosery, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer for Outreach at the Electoral Commission, explained the importance of voters marking all three ballots and avoiding inadvertently spoiling their votes, especially due to similarities in party logos or identifiers. To mitigate confusion, voters can request a fresh ballot up to three times at any voting station.

“You must mark each one of those three ballots as a voter. The one ballot will be for your province, your provincial legislature. So if on the day you are not in your province, you will not get your provincial ballot. You will only get your national ballot. The second ballot will be the members of National Parliament who come from your province, which we call the Regional to National ballot. So that’s your second ballot. Mark that one. That ballot is the ballot that also contains independents that want to go to National Assembly. And then your third and your last ballot is your National ballot, which only has political parties, and that we call a National Compensatory ballot. So you will mark all three. Make sure you deposit all three into the ballot box, and then you’ve completed your process at the voting station,” Mosery explains.

Regarding the possibility of ballot papers being made available for viewing 24 hours before the election, Mosery revealed that no decision has been made yet. Past experiences have shown that providing early access to ballot papers could lead to confusion and potential misuse by political parties. However, sample ballots, which are not official ballots, may be made available to media outlets and online platforms to give voters an idea of the ballot’s appearance.

Listen to the full interview on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.