‘Far too high’ – independent candidates need cash and a mountain of signatures to stand in 2024 polls

Independent candidates seeking to contest the 2024 general elections will need to garner just more than 12,000 voter signatures to be eligible.    

At the moment a political party requires 1,000 signatures in order to register with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). 

Independent candidates will also be expected to pay deposits. The amount is yet to be determined by IEC.  

This was decided by Parliament’s home affairs portfolio committee on Thursday after the chief whips of political parties consulted their constituencies.   

Previously, the committee’s seat-allocation recommendation was 50% of the quota, but it has now resolved that it must be 30%. 

There were 17.5 million people who voted in the 2019 elections. If you divide that by the seats in the National Assembly (400), you get 43,500 a seat.  

To stand as an independent you need 30% of the 43,500, which equates to more than 12,000 signatures.

However, the IEC and opposition parties recommended 10% to 30% of the quota. Despite this, the founder of the Independent Candidates Association (ICA), Micheal Louis, told Daily Maverick the recommendation was still far too high.  

“We believe it is too high and can be constitutionally challenged as the barrier to entry is too high.”

ANC MP Brandon Pillay said the party had reached consensus and resolved that it was important that the number of signatures be lowered for the purposes of inclusion. However, he cautioned against the number being too low. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: “A government of national unity awaits us in 2024, and the next president is unlikely to be from the ANC”   

The DA’s Adrian Ross said the party’s view was that the 20% proposal by the state’s adviser was the way to go. 

The IFP’s Liezel van der Merwe argued that the initial 50% would impede the participation of independent candidates. Her party would have preferred 10% to 15% because it was more inclusive, but was happy to settle for the proposed 20%. 

The changes come against a backdrop of poor voter turnout at the past two elections. In the November 2021 local government poll, millions of eligible voters stayed away.  

Less than half of the 26 million registered voters showed up on election  day, while another 12 million eligible citizens never bothered to register to vote. This means that of the 38 million people who were eligible to vote in 2021, about 26 million (68%) didn’t.  

‘Possible litigation’