The Democratic Alliance (DA) is considering going to court over what exactly is meant by the term "free and fair elections", as it gears up for the 2019 polls, said James Selfe, chairperson of the opposition party's Federal Council, on Sunday.

Speaking after the Democratic Alliance's first Federal Council of 2017 held in Cape Town, Selfe said the party did not think the Electoral Act Electoral Act was clear enough on what was and was not allowed in the run-up to and during an election.

He said handing out food parcels was not specifically covered in the act, and it needed to be clarified whether this kind of behaviour was in line with election rules which guide whether the Electoral Commission can declare an election free and fair.

It also did not deal with the "abuse and merging" of government advertising and ruling party advertising.

Before the August 2016 local government elections, a giant poster extolling the virtues of Johannesburg's former mayor Parks Tau was cited as an example.

"Many many other jurisdictions have that throughout the world and we believe we need to have that too," he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the briefing, Selfe said that, for example, New Zealand does not permit government advertising six months before an election, unless it is directly related to administrative issues such as job vacancies.