INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION DISCUSSES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 001547 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2018 TAGS: PGOV SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION DISCUSSES UPCOMING ELECTION PRETORIA 00001547 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Political Counselor Raymond L. Brown. Reasons 1.4(b)/(d ). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On July 1 PolCouns and POLOFF met with Norman Du Plessis, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC),to discuss next year's parliamentary election and electoral reform. Du Plessis said the election working date is set for May 6, 2009, though it may change as President Mbeki has 90 days to set a new election date once Parliament is dissolved. He said the IEC was prepared for the upcoming election, but expressed concern that political competition within ANC leadership could potentially jeopardize IEC autonomy. He also discussed young voter apathy and potential alternatives to the current proportional representation electoral system. END SUMMARY. -------------- VOTER REGISTRATION, ELECTION DATES SET -------------- ¶2. (C) On July 1 PolCouns and POLOFF met with Norman Du Plessis, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC),to discuss next year's parliamentary election. Voter registration dates are set for November 8-9, 2008 and February 7-8, 2009. Du Plessis said that 82% of voting age South Africans are registered voters, but in the 2004 election, voter turnout was lower than expected, primarily due to the election date falling near the Easter holiday. Statistics indicate the 2004 election had a 77% voter turnout, compared to 89% in 1999. After President Mbeki dissolves Parliament, which he must do no later than April 27, 2009, he has ninety days to establish a general election date, which was tentatively set for May 6, 2009 after consultation with the ANC. (NOTE: Although publicly funded and accountable to Parliament, the IEC is independent of government direction and administration and tasked with the impartial management of free and fair elections at all levels of government, the strengthening of constitutional democracy, and the promotion of democratic electoral processes. END NOTE.) -------------- -------------- IEC CONFIDENT BUT CONCERNED ABOUT POLITICAL COMPETITION -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Du Plessis was confident in his organization's administrative capacity and preparations for the next round of elections. He felt certain the IEC would be ready for voter registration and managing the election day operations in thousands of polling stations. However, he expressed concern for the present political competition within ANC leadership, stating that an unstable political environment "leads players to blame the referee." -------------- YOUTH APATHY AND VOTER EDUCATION -------------- ¶4. (C) Du Plessis stated that as the motivated youth of 1994 are now in their early thirties, current youth participation in elections remains low. As part of its charge to promote voter education, IEC is currently working with 500 secondary schools to reduce voter apathy. Du Plessis said today's youth do not understand the value of their vote and why their vote is critical to the development of South Africa. He also noted that by the 2014 parliamentary election, the majority of South African voters will have been born in the post-apartheid era. -------------- IEC BUDGET SOURCES -------------- Q -------------- ¶5. (C) Noting IEC's level of sophistication and advanced technology, POLOFF asked if IEC faced any budget constraints. Du Plessis said that lack of funds is not an issue as they are funded by the Department of Treasury. He also added that the IEC is free to raise its own funds, which they have occasionally done with western Embassies based in Pretoria. Du Plessis credits the IEC's budgetary freedom as a result of the ANC's understanding of the desirability of ensuring a legitimate election process to achieve the end goal of securing national power. -------------- PRETORIA 00001547 002.2 OF 002 ALTERNATIVE ELECTORAL SYSTEM? -------------- ¶6. (C) There is a nascent debate in civil society and the media about how to reform SA's current parliamentary electoral system from proportional representation (PR) to a hybrid system that is more accountable to its constituency, more efficient and corruption-free. In 2003 an independent panel headed by Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert, proposed a hybrid electoral model which combined multimember constituencies and party lists to help smaller minority political parties gain seats in parliament, but the SAG has not been receptive. On June 24 the Helen Suzman Foundation sponsored a debate about electoral system reform where reform advocates argued that proportional representation fosters sycophancy and inefficiency, while advocates said that South Africa's success is owed to the current electoral system. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) Although reforming proportional representation is on the minds of civil society, ANC's dominance of political power and the machinery of the state makes it unlikely that any reform will occur until a time when the ANC believes it needs to do so in order to hold onto power. The ANC will not have the benefit of inheriting the youth vote as they did in the past. The youth of South Africa's future see iconic ANC figures as historic symbols, separate from their text messaging, globalized lifestyle. Moreover, ANC notions of "struggle credentials," comrades and revolution are giving way to desires for a government that protects its youth and guarantees an economic and social future for them. In the near-term, without a viable political alternative for young blacks, many fear that youth and the disaffected will stay home in 2009. BOST