20 Judgment No. CCZ 3/18 Constitutional Application No. CCZ 15/18 general election to the aggregate of the votes cast for all political parties. Democracy is demonstrably achievable when people who are registered voters choose candidates in a free, fair and peaceful general election by casting their votes. It is out of the results of votes cast in a general election that a government of the people, by the people and for the people emerges. Political parties play an important rôle in the democratic process because they are the bodies that organise the people who vote in the general election for candidates sponsored by them. In other words, in the system of multi-party democracy established by the Constitution, political parties occupy central stage and play a vital part in facilitating the exercise of political rights. Ramakatsa v Magashute 2013 (2) BCLR 202 (CC) at para [65]. The political parties take part in the exercise of legislative authority as the ruling party or opposition parties. What is clear from s 3(3) of the Act is that all political parties are subjected to the same standard of having to aim at their candidates receiving at least five percent of the total number of votes cast in the general election immediately before the next general election. In other words, the requirement applies to every political party. The formation of a political party is not an income generating project. The taxpayer’s money cannot be used to fund any upstart political party which may not be bona fide. Placement of a reasonable limitation upon the payment of public funds to political parties is beyond controversy. A situation where political parties are formed and registered to participate in a general election simply to secure funding by the State cannot have the effect of promoting multi-party democracy. The applicants have not shown that they are eligible to get the financial support on the basis of s 3(3) of the Act. In terms of the section, entitlement only accrues after an election and