IEC shortens voting hours on 3 August

24 June 2016

The Electoral Commission (IEC) has shortened the voting hours, which according to legislation (Municipal Electoral Act) runs from 07:00 to 21:00, to 07:00 until 19:00 for the local government election which is to take place on 3 August.

Although the Municipal Electoral Act states in Section 45(1) that the Electoral Commission may change the voting hours, Section 45(2) stipulates that the decision has to be announced through sufficient publicity by which voters are properly informed about the changes. It is only logical that good reasons are provided for the decision to reduce the number of voting hours.

“To date there hasn’t been real publicity about these changes and no reasons have been provided by the Electoral Commission for its decision. The changes haven’t even been placed on the Electoral Commission’s website. The Freedom Front Plus insists that the reasons for the changes are given and widespread publicity is given to this issue,” Dr. Pieter Groenewald, chairperson of the FF Plus says.

Groenewald says that in the Government Gazette (10 June 2016), No. 40066) it is merely indicated that the voting hours have been reduced, but no reasons were given for this change. The Electoral Commission should run an intensive publicity campaign to inform the public about this.

Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus MP and chairperson, 24 June 2016