CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING WILL IMPACT APRIL 22

UNCLAS PRETORIA 000484 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KJUS SF KDEM SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING WILL IMPACT APRIL 22 ELECTION ¶1. (U) The Constitutional Court ruled on March 12 that South African voters living and working abroad may vote in the national component of the April 22 election. This means that thousands of voters overseas, many of whom have left South Africa for good, will have a chance to vote and influence the outcome of the 2009 poll. Although it is unclear precisely how many potential voters this would include, opposition parties believe that this ruling could have major implications for the outcomes of provincial elections. The Court's decision will allow voters living overseas who are registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to vote in the election. However, this ruling still restricts those living overseas who are not registered with the IEC from casting a ballot. The ruling follows an application by the small minority party, the Freedom Front Plus (FFP),on behalf of a Pretoria school teacher working in the United Kingdom. (Note: The FFP draws its major support from primarily Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans. End Note.) ¶2. (U) The IEC responded to the ruling by announcing that registered South Africans living abroad have until March 27 to indicate their intention to vote to the IEC. South Africans living abroad have to fill in a special voters' request form and submit it to the IEC. Potential voters living overseas can log into the IEC website to determine whether they are successfully registered by inputting their South African identification number. Press reports indicate that so far 5,000 South Africans have indicated their intention to vote from overseas. ¶3. (U) Political analysts and pundits observe that the court's ruling is likely to help the predominately white parties the most, especially at the provincial level, as many of those living overseas are white South Africans. Afriforum, a civil society group focused on the interests of Afrikaners, has announced its plans to recruit registered South Africans to vote by contacting them electronically via the Internet and informing them how to vote. The ruling African National Congress officially welcomed the decision, but opposition parties -- especially the FFP, the Democratic Alliance (DA),and the Congress of the People -- hailed the ruling. The DA noted that the election result will change as a result of the ruling and noted that more than 20,000 South Africans living abroad have contacted the party in recent weeks about the issue. The DA plans to discuss whether to pursue further legal action that would allow registered South Africans living abroad the chance to vote in the April 22 provincial election as well. LA LIME