Cape Town - Several political parties in the Western Cape that did not get a seat in the provincial legislature held a demonstration in the city centre on Saturday, expressing their intention to boycott the election results.

Parties including the Alliance of Citizens for Change (ACC) and the African Congress for Transformation (ACT) called for a re-election as they believe the IEC’s elections didn’t reflect the “will of the people”.

This while the National Coloured Congress also attended the demonstration in a supportive capacity.

The parties say they will not only take their case to the Electoral Court, but will also lodge criminal complaints with police.

ACC secretary-general Nkosekhaya Lala said that they marched because the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had not delivered a free and fair election.

“There have been a lot of issues reported to the IEC, such as their equipment not working properly, and some votes were not counted or reflected in the total count of the votes.

“We are voicing our concerns because we believe that these elections don’t reflect the will of the people.

“There are a number of issues that the IEC needs to account for,” said Lala.

The NCC said the IEC failed in various ways.

“People were waiting 10 hours to vote, and some didn’t vote because of the long queues.

“Small parties got sour grapes because we didn’t get all the seats that we thought we were going to get.

“Twenty-three parties are complaining about the IEC, and we are taking this matter very seriously,” the party said.

Meanwhile, the IEC is facing its first legal challenge to the election, with a number of political parties lodging objections to the final results and calling for them to be declared null and void.

In papers filed by the Hola Bon Renaissance (HBR) Foundation, the non-profit organisation approached the Electoral Court about what it calls the IEC’s failure to discharge its statutory obligations.

The HBR Foundation wants the national and provincial elections to be declared null and void in terms of the Electoral Act, which empowers the commission or the Electoral Court to decide – whether as a result of an objection or appeal brought under section 55, which deals with objections material to the final election results, or otherwise – that a serious irregularity has occurred concerning any aspect of the polls.

According to its court papers: ”The respondent (IEC) did not meaningfully decide the objection of the MKP or of the other political parties who laid objections.

“The respondent failed to provide reasons for its failure to meaningfully decide the objections of the MKP and other political parties and inform them of the same.”

zolani.sinxo@inl.co.za

Cape Argus