South Africa: Electoral Act

Updated October 1998

The Electoral Act, 202 of 1993, was promulgated on 14 January 1994 and it set out the basic rules for national and provincial elections. The Act was amended on six occasions in order to accommodate political agreements and to meet administrative exigencies. The Electoral Act 73 of 1998 has since been promulgated replacing it (See Electoral Act, 73 of 1998 and Electoral system for details).

The Electoral Act detailed significant features in the administration of the election, including:

• Extending the franchise to all persons over the age of 18 years and who were ordinarily resident in South Africa;
• empowering the State President (subject to certain limitations) to proclaim the date and hours of the election;
• the active participation of political parties in the electoral process;
• no provision was made for the use of a voters' roll owing to the lengthy process involved.

Therefore, the Act:

• Safeguarded against multiple voting by marking a voter's document and right hand to be marked before a ballot paper was issued;
• detailed the dimensions and siting of voting stations;
• provided that counting of votes was not to be conducted at voting stations, nor by voting staff;
• made special provision for access to counting and voting stations by international and other accredited observers;
• provided for the registration of parties and submission of lists of candidates within specified periods of time; and
• provided for the state and other funding of the electoral campaigns of registered parties.