LGE 2021 candidate nomination closes with preliminary indication of high numbers of candidates
Aug 24, 2021
First and foremost, we wish to thank political parties and independent candidates for their continued interest in electoral democracy. Such interest tells us that the electoral democratic project is well and alive in the country. It is not lost to the Commission that the unfolding nomination process had to be undertaken against the backdrop of a pernicious pandemic which is threatening our collective existence. The lengths to which parties and independent candidates have gone to ensure compliance with obviously tight timeframes is remarkable and indicative of agility within our political system.
In line with the Electoral Timetable, the first stage of the candidate nomination process concluded last night. The deadline for the submissions was 21h00. There is currently work in progress to collate all the nomination information. The preliminary figures indicate the total number of candidates standing at 59 272, including those captured through the Online Candidate Nomination System, as well manually in the local office of the Commission. 74 per cent of preliminary candidates were captured through the online system, whereas 26 per cent came through manual submissions. This innovative ICT solution continues to offer operational efficiencies whilst at the same time giving political parties and independent candidates greater control over the capturing process.
Local offices of the Commission are currently still busy capturing manual submissions that were received by the cut-off time of 21h00 yesterday. The plan is to conclude this capturing by the end of today.
The total number of municipal council seats being contested in this year election is 10 478. There are 276 unique political parties that submitted candidates of which two are contesting in all the 257 municipalities in the country. The total number of independents currently captured is 944. In 2016 there were 855 independent candidates.