1. Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs Local Government Election Report Electoral Commission 27 February 2018

2. Presentation outline Legislative framework (pp3 – 4)
Pre-election phase
Delimitation (pp 5 – 7)
Voting station planning (pp 9 – 10)
Voter registration (registration pp 49 – 52; certification p53)
Outreach: education & communications (pp 18 – 36)
Election timetable (p53; pp 92-93)
Proclamation (p53)
Party registration (pp 56 – 57)
Candidate nomination (pp 57 – 60)
Special vote applications (pp 70 – 71)
Legal environment (pp 61 – 63)

3. Presentation outline cont.
Election phase (p65)
Logistics and Infrastructure
Ballot papers (pp 65 – 69)
Voting Station infrastructure (pp 9 -10)
Election staff recruitment and training (pp 37 – 40)
Election day (pp )
Voter participation statistics
Post-election phase
Objections (p79)
Results (pp 94 – 105)
Voters’ perspectives (pp 80 – 84)
Conclusion

4. Electoral system (pp 3- 5)
Section 157 of the Constitution provides principles for the electoral system for local government:
S157 (2)(a) Proportional representation OR
S157(2)(b) Proportional representation combined with ward representation
Section 157 (3) says the system in 157 (2) MUST result in general in proportional representation;
Municipal Structures Act provides for the details of the electoral system:
Half the number of councillors must be elected directly from wards
Balance of councillors to be elected from party lists

5. Legislative amendments (p4)
Key amendments to the Municipal Electoral Act ahead of 2016 Municipal Elections:
Providing for recognition of Smart ID cards;
Providing for on-line candidate and a streamlined nomination process;
Providing for the CEO to advise parties where candidates are standing for multiple parties;
Providing circumstances and number of times a voter may request a new ballot paper;
Clarifying the collation process of results for by-elections; and
Amending the modalities for the payment of election deposits.

6. Pre-election phase: Demarcation changes (pp 5- 7)
Demarcation processes only concluded in December 2015;
Outstanding demarcation matters (Vuwani, Tlokwe, Midvaal) until very last minute;
Category B Municipalities REDUCED from 234 to 213;
Total number of municipalities REDUCED from 278 to 257 (including 44 Category C Municipalities);
Slight INCREASE in wards
Election
Number of Wards
Percentage increase
2000
3 754
2006
3 895
2.6%
2011
4 277
9.8%
2016
4 392
2.7%

7. Voting Districts (p7) Eastern Cape 3 087 4 368 (41) 4 560 (4)
Province
Number of VDs: 2000
Number of VDs: (% change)
Number of VDs: 2011 (% change)
Number of VDs: (% change)
Eastern Cape
3 087
4 368 (41)
4 560 (4)
4 699 (3)
Free State
1 061
1 186 (11)
1 320 (11)
1 531 (15)
Gauteng
1 979
2 172 (9)
2 480 (14)
2 716 (9)
KwaZulu-Natal
3 336
4 064 (21)
4 358 (7)
4 792 (9)
Mpumalanga
1 023
1 259 (23)
1 565 (24)
1 744 (11)
Northern Cape
396
621 (56)
655 (5)
710 (8)
Limpopo
1 796
2 274 (26)
2 781 (22)
3 111 (11)
North West
1 020
1 488 (45)
1 570 (5)
1 723 (9)
Western Cape
1 290
1 441 (11)
1 570 (8)
1 586 (1)
TOTAL
14 988
(25)
(10)
(8) 13

8. Average number of voters per VD

9. Voter registration (pp 49 – 52)
Combined Targeted Communication and Registration Activities
Province
New registration
Re-registration same voting district
Re-registration from different voting district
Total
Eastern Cape
2 564
1 567
12 075
16 206
Free State
1 815
1 453
9 185
12 453
Gauteng
2 271
944
9 037
12 252
KwaZulu-Natal
4 084
4 323
18 702
27 109
Limpopo
2 946
1 632
7 823
12 401
Mpumalanga
3 736
4 598
13 965
22 299
North West
1 665
2 005
5 854
9 524
Northern Cape
1 344
830
6 353
8 527
Western Cape
3 160
2 007
12 357
17 524
TOTAL
23 585
19 359
95 351
138 295

10. General registration weekends (pp 51- 52)
Voting stations were opened over the weekends of 5-6 March and 9 – 10 April 2016 for voter registration and re-registration;
Also a focus on obtaining addresses for registered voters
Total new registrations:
Total re-registrations (new VD):
Total re-registrations (same VD):

11. General registration weekends (pp 51- 52)

12. Certified Voters Roll for the 2016 Elections
Province
Female
% of Provincial Total
Male
% of Provincial Total
Provincial Total
% of Total
Eastern Cape
1,908,575
57.19%
1,428,957
42.81%
3,337,532
12.67%
Free State
809,121
55.00%
661,878
45.00%
1,470,999
5.59%
Gauteng
3,215,834
51.58%
3,018,988
48.42%
6,234,822
23.68%
KwaZulu-Natal
3,052,876
56.42%
2,358,361
43.58%
5,411,237
20.55%
Limpopo
1,521,360
59.52%
1,034,768
40.48%
2,556,128
9.71%
Mpumalanga
1,047,802
54.60%
871,414
45.40%
1,919,216
7.29%
North West
900,655
52.50%
814,805
47.50%
1,715,460
6.51%
Northern Cape
332,780
53.56%
288,530
46.44%
621,310
2.36%
Western Cape
1,676,893
54.68%
1,389,756
45.32%
3,066,649
11.65%
Total
14,465,896
54.93%
11,867,457
45.07%
26,333,353 9

13. Voter registration growth (p53)
Growth in voters’ roll 2000 – 2016 (+ 42%)

14. Outreach: Education & Communications (pp 18 – 36)
Election campaign “MY TOMORROW IS IN MY HANDS” broadcast nationally in 11 languages across all media;
Social and digital media increasingly used as a medium to engage with young voters (23% of total expenditure on social/digital compared to +/-10% in 2014);
Social media segment of campaign won a number of awards including:
Advertising Media Association of South Africa (AMASA) Awards 2016 for Best Integrated Campaign (Public Sector) and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) South Africa Smarties Awards 2016
2.5 million SMS messages to register (age 17-25) and a further 5 million SMS messages sent to voters without addresses (following ConCourt ruling)

15. Contact centre (pp 22 - 24) 218 260 calls received
social media interactions

16. Civic & democracy education (pp 30 – 36)
Province
Outreach & Training Officers (OTOs)
Municipal Outreach Coordinators (MOCs)
Democracy Education Facilitators (DEFs)
Other
Eastern Cape 8 45
238
Free State 5 24
105
Gauteng 19
169
KwaZulu Natal 11 54
276
Limpopo 26
181
Mpumalanga 3 18
NIL
62 formal partnerships with traditional councils
North West 4
165
Northern Cape 27
108
Western Cape 6 28
134
Total 52
260
1376

17. Party registration (pp 56 - 57)
Record number of parties contested 2016 Elections (205)

18. Candidate nomination (pp 57 - 60)
Record number of candidates contested 2016 Elections (63 718)
Election
Party PR
Party Ward
Independent
Total
% change for total
2000
16 156
13 236
689
30 081
n/a
2006
21 498
23 028
663
45 189
+50%
2011
23 303
29 700
754
53 757
+19%
2016
26 743
36 120
855
63 718
Of the candidates initially nominated:
were submitted using the new online candidate nomination system
submitted manually
5 478 were disqualified

19. Candidate statistics (pp 57 - 60)
Gender and age statistics for candidates
Candidates
Age Category
Female
Male
Total
>=18<=19 90 72
162
>=20<=29
3 666
4 471
8 137
>=30<=39
6 727
10 258
16 985
>=40<=49
7 321
11 319
18 640
>=50<=59
5 449
7 828
13 277
>=60
1 860
4 663
6 523
25 113
38 611
63 724

20. Special vote applications (pp 70 - 71)
Record number of special vote applications ( compared to in 2011)
Represents approximately 3 percent of registered voters
Province
Approved home visits
Approved voting station visits
Total approved special votes
Eastern Cape
46 881
24 230
71 111
Free State
24 327
31 415
55 742
Gauteng
30 121
48 872
78 989
KwaZulu-Natal
50 342
29 856
80 198
Limpopo
41 052
14 243
55 295
Mpumalanga
28 310
North West
37 389
29 934
67 323
Northern Cape
27 117
29 584
56 701
Western Cape
30 058
21 159
51 217
Grand total

21. Electoral Offences (pp 61 – 63)
The Directorate for Electoral Offences was established in July 2016 to investigate all complaints of alleged transgressions of prohibited conduct and provisions of the Electoral Code of Conduct
Of the 63 complaints received:
37 infringements were serious enough to be referred to the Directorate
11 infringements were referred to the Electoral Commission’s external panel of attorneys for further investigation and recommendations.
One of the complaints received was in respect of hate speech. The matter was referred to the Electoral Court and the candidate in question was disqualified.

22. Legal environment (pp 61 – 63)
Significant increase in the number of litigious matters ahead of 2016 Elections:
Challenges to the voters’ roll – three court applications
Candidate nomination – 10 court applications
Intra-party disputes – seven court applications
Significant cases:
Xolile David Kham and 7 Others v Electoral Commission and Another and AP Mhlope v Electoral Commission
Key ruling of the Constitutional Court:
Electoral Commission obliged to take all reasonable measures to obtain the addresses of all voters who registered post-December 2003 (suspended until June 2018 except for by-elections)
Tlokwe voters’ roll to be corrected for the 2016 Elections

23. Addresses of voters: Update
Voter’s roll category
Number of registered voters (as at 30 November 2017)
Complete address
(75%)
REC AS address
(0.4%)
Incomplete/generic address
(14%)
No recorded address
(11%)
Pre-December 2003 no recorded address
Post-December 2003 no recorded address
Total registered voters

24. Ballot Papers Designed (unique)
Ballot papers (pp 65 – 69)
Ballots
Ballot Papers Designed (unique)
Ward ballot papers
4 392
District Council ballot papers 44
Metro Council ballot papers 8
Local Council ballot papers
205
Total
4 649
Ballots
Ballot Papers Printed
Ward ballot papers
District Council ballot papers
PR ballot papers
Total

25. Voting Day materials (pp67 – 68)
+/ ballot boxes
+/ voting booths
+/- 1,9 million A4 pages of the voters’ roll to provide a copy of the segment of the voters’ roll for each voting station
+/ voting station arrow signs
large banners to mark the voting stations
60 tons of stationery to voting stations including pens
indelible ink markers
security stamps
security seals to seal ballot boxes

26. Voting station infrastructure (p9)
Province VS
Permanent
School
Temporary
Mobile
Eastern Cape
4 699
4 535
77%
161 3
Free State
1 531
1 342
44%
189
Gauteng
2 716
2 389
53%
327
KwaZulu-Natal
4 792
4 647
73%
133 12
Limpopo
3 111
2 966
78%
145
Mpumalanga
1 744
1 650
63% 82
North West
1 723
1 605
56%
115
Northern Cape
710
684
33% 26
Western Cape
1 586
1 534
42% 50 2
TOTAL
22 612
21 352
64%
1 228 32

27. Reduction in temporary Voting Stations (p9)
Province
2014 Elections (NPE)
2016 Elections (LGE)
% Change
Eastern Cape
174
161
-7%
Free State
212
189
-11%
Gauteng
455
327
-28%
KwaZulu Natal
167
133
-20%
Limpopo
202
145
Mpumalanga 76 82
+8%
North West
120
115
-4%
Northern Cape 28 26
Western Cape 61 50
-18%
TOTAL
1 495
1 228

28. Registration and election staff (pp 37- 42)
Voter registration:
Registration staff recruited for March 2016 registration weekend:
Registration staff recruited for April 2016 registration weekend:
Election day:
Voting Station staff recruited:
Unemployed: (79.98%)
Women: (71.23%)

29. Registration and Election Staff (pp 37- 42)
Voting Station staff: Age breakdown

30. Voter turnout (pp 74 - 78) Total of 15 290 820 voters participated
Turnout of 57.94%
Women : 58%
Men: 42%

31. Voter turnout by age (pp 74 - 78)

32. Time of voting (p76)
Almost 2 out of 3 voters who voted had done so by 11am

33. Counting and Results (pp 77- 79)
93% of results were captured and available within 24 hours;
Within 74 hours the final results were available with delays in large metros (Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane)
2016 Elections results announced 3 days after the election
On 10 August 2016 (7 days after voting day) after processing multiple seats elected councillors were published and municipal councils could constitute
Only 40% of DC seats are PR – the remaining 60% can only be filled after election by local councils

34. Objections and Appeals (p79)
The Commission resolved to investigate and decide on all objections – even those lodged after the legislated deadline of 5 August 2016;
By January 2017 the Commission had considered 216 objections;
There were 10 appeals to the Electoral Court;
One was upheld and resulted in a recount in affected wards in Tlokwe. There was no change to the result;
The Electoral Commission successfully appealed in the SCA against two rulings of the Electoral Court. Rulings were overturned and original decision of the Commission reinstated.

35. Voters Perspectives (pp80 - 84)
64% of voters took less than 15 minutes to travel to their voting station
72 % waited less than 15 minutes to vote
Average waiting time to vote was 17 minutes (compared to 25 minutes in 2014 and 23 minutes in 2011)
84% found voting stations to be accessible to persons with disabilities
96% satisfied with signage and instructions at VS
95% expressed satisfaction with the secrecy of the vote
91 % reported that no one tried to force them to vote for a political party
91% felt that the election procedures were free and a further 4% said it was free with minor problems
96% of voters satisfied with quality of service by election officials
91% of voters trust the Electoral Commission

36. Voters Perspectives (pp80 - 84)
64% of voters took less than 15 minutes to travel to their voting station
72 % waited less than 15 minutes to vote
Average waiting time to vote was 17 minutes (compared to 25 minutes in 2014 and 23 minutes in 2011)
84% found voting stations to be accessible to persons with disabilities
96% satisfied with signage and instructions at VS
95% expressed satisfaction with the secrecy of the vote
91 % reported that no one tried to force them to vote for a political party
91% felt that the election procedures were free and a further 4% said it was free with minor problems
96% of voters satisfied with quality of service by election officials
91% of voters trust the Electoral Commission

37. Conclusion: Towards the 2019 Elections
Operational environment
Implementation of Constitutional Court ruling on Section 16 (3)
Enhanced training of election staff
Fiscal environment
Reduced resources
Expanded mandate (Party Funding Legislation)
Legal environment
Increased scrutiny of electoral processes by all stakeholders
Increasing objections and legal challenges
Delimitation
Review of provincial boundaries
Climate conducive to free and fair elections
Increasing contestation
Rise of intolerance
Intra-party conflict over candidates
Enforcement of Code of Conduct

38. Thank You 26