facility of objection. All this should be the exclusive domain of the Commission.
X
NOMINATION OF
CANDIDATES
Nominations
•
Clause 14 of the Bill amends Section 46 of the Act by providing for stronger requirements to
ensure that candidates standing for election on behalf of a political party must satisfy the
nomination court that they are the true choice of the party that they want to represent. The
party is required to provide to the Commission names of persons who may vouch for the
candidate that they are the party’s choice. There is also an additional requirement that
candidates wishing to be nominated must submit, as part of his or her nomination papers, two
copies of the electoral code of conduct for political parties and candidates signed by the
candidate or his or her chief election agent.
•
It is important to note that failure to comply with this requirement may result in the refusal of
nomination by the nomination court. Therefore its is important that political parties and
candidates ensure they adhere to this formality beforehand, rather than wait for the nomination
day when bureaucratic processes might cause undue delays and therefore cause potential
disqualification.
•
There is also a minor amendment through Clause 15 and Clause 28 of the Bill providing for the
repeal and replace provisions of the Act that currently provide for the “deposits on nomination”
to be substituted by “nomination fees”, which is the more appropriate name for the fees paid on
application for nomination of a candidate.
XI
VOTING PROCESSES
AND PROCEDURES
Setting Election Dates
•
Clause 11 deals with setting dates when elections will be held. The current position under
Section 38 of the Act is that the President specifies the dates of the various processes in an
election. That section requires polling day in all elections to be between 28 and 50 days after
24
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