FRIDAY BRIEFING | Battle royale: Will it be a flush for political parties in municipal election? | News24

Battle royale: Will it be a flush for political parties in municipal election?  

Every five years, the country holds a municipal election. While everyone expected it would happen this year, concerns were raised about the Covid-19 pandemic and whether free and fair elections could be held if it went ahead as planned in October. 

This left political parties in limbo – unsure of whether to canvass for support or wait until the Constitutional Court made its ruling after the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) approached it after getting a report from former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke. 

A mad scramble ensued after the court ruled municipal elections must proceed no later than 1 November. It was later proclaimed as the election date, with voters were given one weekend to get their affairs in order to update their details or register. 

With the elections just around the corner, Friday Briefing examines just how successful political parties have been in their endeavour to get your vote. 

Independent elections analyst Dawie Scholtz writes a good place to test the temperature of an election is to examine the figures from voter registration drives, which paint an important picture.

He writes that we should not be surprised if there is a low voter turnout, based on the last voter registration figures. 

News24’s political editor, Qaanitah Hunter, examines the youth numbers of those who registered and raises some concerns. 

Finally Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute analyst Ebrahim Fakir and the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change’s Molebogeng Mokoka analyse some of the conversations taking place in Twitterverse around the elections and break down the disinformation campaign that is going on, and consider why some political parties should be perturbed. 

Hope you enjoy this week’s read. 

Have a good weekend. 

Best,

Vanessa Banton 

Opinions editor 

What the voter registration data is telling us – and why the ANC should be worried

Following the recent voter registration drive, independent election analyst Dawie Scholtz examines the figures and comes to three important conclusions that political parties should take note of. 

Despondent, disinterested: Voter registration numbers are nothing to crow about

The government and IEC should not be patting themselves on the back for the voter registration numbers. Qaanitah Hunter writes it is concerning young voters are not interested in making their mark.

Elections 2021: There’s a f(r)action too much f(r)iction

As we head closer to the municipal elections expected to take place on 1 November, the trend of mis- and disinformation on social media is expected to grow as party and candidate campaigning intensifies, making it essential for voters to be able to separate fact from fiction, write Ebrahim Fakir and Molebogeng Mokoka.

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