This year, the 27,79 million registered voters will receive three ballot papers to elect candidates to represent them in the National Assembly and the nine Provincial Legislatures.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says the use of the three ballots follows the amendment of the Electoral Act, which was signed into law in April 2023.
“This amendment revised the electoral system to allow independent candidates to contest in the regional (province-to-national) tier of the National Assembly and the provincial Legislatures. Although the phenomenon of three ballots will be familiar to voters in various local municipalities, it will be new to voters in metropolitan areas and for the first time in general elections for national and provinces,” the IEC says.
Moses Pitso, the IEC’s Head of Outreach and Communication, says the first is the National Compensatory ballot paper contested by political parties only. It will be blue in colour. The second is the Regional to National ballot paper which will be contested by independent candidates and political parties. It will be orange.
“These two ballot papers are for the 400 seats in the National Assembly. The third ballot paper will be for the seats in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. It will be contested by political parties and independent candidates. It will be pink in colour,” Pitso adds.
Ballot 1: The first ballot is the National Compensatory and is contested by political parties only. It will be blue.
Ballot 2: The second is the Regional ballot and will be contested by independent candidates and political parties. It will be orange.
Ballot 3: The third is the Provincial ballot and will be contested by political parties and independent candidates. It will be pink.
If you would like to know more visit www.elections.org.za and click on voter education.
