The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has called on all political parties and candidates standing for election to approach the Electoral Commission, law enforcement agencies or the Electoral Court with any evidence of suspected malfeasance.

The IEC was responding to a news report, which said that 188 voters were registered in one household, in George.

Last week, the GOOD party approached the Electoral Court to urgently block the IEC from conducting by-elections in Pacaltsdorp, a suburb in the George municipality.

GOOD accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of deliberately re-registering 174 voters in wards that they were not residents of.  

The court dismissed the application and the by-election went ahead.

The Electoral Commission noted that in keeping with its obligation to ensure free and fair elections, it concluded that all those voters were correctly registered in the voting district and ward linked to their addresses, and thus entitled to vote in the by-election.

“An inadvertent error allocated a common address to the 174 voters when the given addresses were checked against the ward boundaries. This is normal practice for wards with prospective by-elections,” noted the IEC.

The IEC said the affected voters were not, as alleged, new entrants on that ward segment of the voters’ roll. 

“The voters have been historically registered in the voting district and in the ward. In fact, some have voted in previous elections, including the 2021 Local Government Elections,” added the IEC.

The Electoral Commission also confirmed that all 174 voters were not registered using any of the online platforms, given that their registrations pre-date the introduction of electronic means of registration.

The IEC said as per the law, contestants were provided copies of the voters’ roll ahead of the by-elections held in George, adding that no objections were lodged within the objection period in terms of the election timetable.