EISA gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support for this project from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) EISA ELECTION OBSERVER MISSION REPORT SOUTH AFRICA National AND PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS 22 APRIL 2009 Order from: [email protected] EISA ELECTION OBSERVER MISSION REPORT No 36 EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT i EISA ELECTION OBSERVER MISSION REPORT SOUTH AFRICA National AND PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS 22 APRIL 2009 ii EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT iii EISA ELECTION OBSERVER MISSION REPORT SOUTH AFRICA National AND PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS 22 APRIL 2009 2010 iv EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT Published by EISA 14 Park Rd, Richmond Johannesburg South Africa P O Box 740 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa Tel: 27 11 381 6000 Fax: 27 11 482 6163 Email: [email protected] www.eisa.org.za ISBN: 978-1-920446-32-1 © EISA 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of EISA. First published 2010 EISA strives for excellence in the promotion of credible elections, participatory democracy, human rights culture, and the strengthening of governance institutions for the consolidation of democracy in Africa. EISA Election Observer Mission Report, No. 36 EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT v CONTENTS Abbreviations/Acronyms vii Acknowledgements viii Executive Summary x The EISA Technical Team’s Terms of Reference xiii The EISA Approach to Election Observation xiv 1. Political and Historical Overview 1 1.1 Political and Electoral Background 1 1.2 The 2004 National and Provincial Elections 5 1.3 Political Developments Ahead of the 2009 Poll 8 2. The Electoral Framework 10 2.1 Legal Framework 10 2.1.1 The Constitution of 1996 10 2.1.2 The Independent Electoral Commission Act 51 of 1996 11 2.1.3 The Electoral Act 73 of 1998 and the Municipal Electoral Act of 2000 11 2.1.4 The Code of Conduct 12 2.1.5 The Political Party Funding Act of 1997 12 2.2 The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) 13 2.2.1 Composition of the IEC 13 2.2.2 Functions of the IEC 14 2.2.3 Funding 15 2.3 The Electoral Court 15 2.4 Party Liaison Committees (PLCs) 15 2.5 The Electoral System for the 2009 Elections 16 3. The Pre-Election Phase 18 3.1 Voter Registration 18 3.1.1 Legal provisions 18 3.1.2 Assessing the registration process 18 3.2 Party registration and the nomination process 21 3.2.1 Party registration 21 3.2.2 Compilation of party lists 22 3.3 Voter education and information 23 3.4 The Election Campaign 3.4.1 Rules governing canvassing 24 3.4.2 Political campaign 24 3.4.3 Violence and intimidation 24 3.5 Media coverage of the electoral process 25 4. The Election Phase 27 4.1 Polling stations and provision of election material 27 4.2 Voters’ roll and voter turnout 27 vi EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT 4.3 Voting staff, party agents and security forces 28 4.4 Voting process 29 4.4.1 Voting abroad 29 4.4.2 Special voting 30 4.4.3 The voting on 22 April 2009 31 4.5 Counting process 31 4.6 Other Observer Missions 32 5. The Post-Election Phase 34 5.1 Results auditing 34 5.2 Results centres 34 5.3 Announcement of results 35 6. Conclusions and Recommendations 41 6.1 Findings and Conclusions 41 6.2 Recommendations and Areas for Improvement 43 References 45 Appendices Appendix 1: Composition of EISA Observer Mission 48 Appendix 2: Interim Statement, EISA Observer Mission to the 2009 South African National & Provincial Elections 50 Appendix 3: Briefing Programme 58 Appendix 4: Code of Conduct for Observers 59 About EISA 63 Other Reports in the Series 65 List of tables Table 1: Panellists deployed in each province xvii Table 2: 1994 National Election Results 2 Table 3: 1999 National Election Results 4 Table 4: 2004 National Election Results 6 Table 5: 2004 Summary of the provincial election results 7 Table 6: Voters’ roll comparison from 1999 to 2009 19 Table 7: Female and male registrations by province, 20 February 2009 20 Table 8: Age breakdown of registered voters, 20 February 2009 21 Table 9: Parties participating in the 2009 Elections 22 Table 10: National Elections 2009 Results: Parties with seats in Parliament 36 Table 11: Comparative 2004 and 2009 National Election Results 37 Table 12: 2009 National Election Results by Province 38 Table 13: 2009 South African National Council of Provinces seats allocation by Province 40 Table 14: 2009 Seats in Provincial Legislature or Provincial Parliament 40 EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT vii Abbreviations/Acronyms ACDP African Christian Democratic Party ACCORD African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes ANC African National Congress AU African Union AZAPO Azanian People’s Organisation CDP Christian Democratic Party CEO Chief Electoral Officer COPE Congress of the People CSO Civil Society Organisation DA Democratic Alliance DDP Democracy Development Programme DP Democratic Party DPO Deputy Presiding Officer DPOC Deputy Presiding Officer Counting DRC Democratic Republic of Congo ECF Electoral Commission Forum of SADC Countries ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EISA Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa EMB Electoral Management Body EMSA Employment Movement of South Africa EOM Election Observer Mission FEDSACS Federation of South African Christian Students FF+ Freedom Front + GDP Gross Domestic Product GG Government Gazette ICASA Independent Communications Authority of South Africa ID ndependent Democrats IEC Independent Electoral Commission IFP Inkatha Freedom Party KISS Keep it Straight and Simple MEO Municipal Electoral Office MF Minority Front NA National Action NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NLP New Labour Party NNP New National Party PAC Pan Africanist Congress of Azania PEMMO Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation in the SADC Region PJC Peace and Justice Congress PLC Party Liaison Committee PO Presiding Officer SACC South African Council of Churches SACSEC South African Civil Society Election Coalition SOPA Socialist Party of Azania SADC Southern African Development Community SADC-PF Southern Africa Development Community Parliamentary Forum TOP The Organisation Party ToR Terms of Reference UCDP United Christian Democratic Party UDM United Democratic Movement UF United Front viii EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EISA’s mission to South Africa would not have been possible without the assistance and support of a number of people and institutions. EISA expresses its profound gratitude to all those who directly or indirectly contributed to the mission’s success. We thank the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa for inviting EISA to observe the 2009 national and provincial elections and for facilitating the accreditation of observers as well as being available to respond to the mission’s queries. The information provided by the IEC national office in Pretoria and the provincial offices of the IEC was useful and informative in assisting the mission in achieving its objectives and especially in understanding the context within which the elections were being held. Members of the IEC also gave of their time to meet our teams of observers when they were deployed in all the nine provinces of the country. Our thanks also go to the political parties, civil society organisations (CSOs) representatives of the media and academics in South Africa who so willingly made themselves available for briefing the observer mission and for meeting the teams when deployed to the various provinces. We also extend our appreciation to the other observer missions with whom we interacted, shared information and learnt from each other. Our mission is indebted to the people of South Africa for their openness and willingness to share their experiences with our observers. The hospitality extended to the members of the EISA Observer Mission by the people of South Africa is highly appreciated. We commend all the stakeholders for contributing to a peaceful environment in which the elections took place. Thanks go to the Elections and Political Processes Department of EISA, which organised and coordinated the mission and to EISA staff who prepared this report. We would like to extend our appreciation to Professor Ade Adefuye, EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT ix Governance Advisor to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) who so ably and diligently led the EISA Election Observer Mission to South Africa. We would also like to thank all the members of the EISA Observer Mission for their contribution to the democratic electoral process in South Africa. Our gratitude is extended to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), whose generous funding facilitated this mission. x EISA OBSERVER MISSION REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY An African continent where democratic governance, human rights and citizen participation are upheld in a peaceful environment is the vision EISA seeks to further across Africa. In that respect, accredited by the IEC, EISA deployed an International Observer Mission to South Africa for the national and provincial elections of 22 April 2009.The mission was led by Professor Ade Adefuye, Senior Governance Advisor to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and consisted of 33 observers from 13 African countries, namely: Nigeria, Lesotho, Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Angola, drawn from civil society organisations (CSOs), academics and election management bodies from all the regions of the African continent. The deputy mission leader was Dr Khabele Matlosa, the EISA Programmes Director. (The full list of EISA Observers is indicated in Appendix 1). EISA Election Observer Mission team members started arriving in Johannesburg, South Africa on 15 April 2009 and observed the electoral process until 23 April 2009.