The Inkatha Freedom Party which is party to the matter currently before the Constitutional Court in which the Electoral Commission is seeking a declaration from the court that local government elections due to be held on August 3, 2016, may proceed on the voters roll as it stands, has offered a workable solution to the crisis at hand.
IFP MPL, Mr Lourens De Klerk, said that, ”The Electoral Commission currently finds itself in a precarious position after handing down of a judgment by the Electoral Court which obliged the Electoral Commission to obtain and verify the addresses of all registered voters, and to remove from the Voters Roll any such voters whose addresses were not recorded on the Voters Roll.”
“If this judgment stands, the upcoming local government elections scheduled for August of this year would simply be unable to take place. As this would not augur well for the democratic process in South Africa, the Inkatha Freedom Party has entered the dispute on the basis of offering a solution to matter which would not only allow the local government elections to take place, but would also ensure that the Voters Roll compliance update would begin at the same time,”
“The IFP proposes that the Electoral Commission be allowed to continue with the voting process, whilst using the problematic Voters Roll, but that the machinery of the voting process during the upcoming election will also be utilized as a mechanism to regularise non-compliant voters by utilizing a provisional ballot as is being currently used with great success in the United States of America. It is our submission that this proposal is immediately implementable and will result in a free and fair election (or more free and fair election) than would otherwise be the result,” concluded De Klerk.
Contact:
Mr Lourens De Klerk, MPL
082 557 1579
IFP Media, Parliament
