Political parties and independent candidates have pledged to keep their campaigns peaceful and abide by the electoral code of conduct ahead of the November 4 local government elections, as the IEC warned that community protests remained one of its biggest challenges.
The commitment was made at the provincial electoral code of conduct signing ceremony at the East London International Convention Centre on Tuesday, bringing contestants together as the province prepares for the polls.
The IEC said the signing was aimed at ensuring political parties, candidates and their supporters understood and adhered to the rules governing election campaigns.
IEC provincial deputy manager of electoral operations Masindi Mosehana said the Eastern Cape was preparing for the elections while working to address logistical challenges across its voting-station network.
He said the province's voters' roll had grown by 192,000 since the 2024 elections, largely driven by efforts to register young people.
“In 2024, our voters' roll was sitting at 3.4-million and we are proud to say we have increased the number of voters by 192,000 young people, and now our voters' roll stands at 3.6-million voters,” Mosehana said.
The IEC had partnered with stakeholders, including the department of home affairs, and introduced programmes at schools and tertiary institutions to encourage registration.
“They started a flagship where they went to tertiary institutions and employed students who helped other students to register,” he said.
The province will have 703 wards in the coming elections, down from 710 in 2024.
Mosehana said the number of wards was determined by the number of registered voters and the latest figure reflected changes to the voters' roll.
While the IEC said its preparations were well advanced, Mosehana highlighted several infrastructure problems at voting stations.
He said 403 voting stations had no electricity, 422 had no water, 253 had no sanitation and 156 had poor road access.
Plans were in place to address the problems before election day, he added.
A total of 15,091 candidates had been captured on the IEC's systems across the province, including 4,337 proportional representation councillor candidates and 10,754 ward candidates.
There are 114 independent candidates, while 90 political parties are contesting in the province.
Mosehana said there had been an increase in the number of political parties contesting, while the number of independent candidates had declined.
The longest PR ballot will be in Nelson Mandela Bay, where 37 candidates will contest for PR council seats, followed by Buffalo City with 29, OR Tambo with 21, King Sabata Dalindyebo with 21 and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela municipality with 19.
Mosehana said the IEC had strengthened its logistics systems to ensure that voting could continue even where connectivity was poor.
“Our warehouses in all 33 municipalities have been vetted and we are now busy distributing bulk materials to the various local storage sites.
"We have started printing ballot papers and when they are finalised, they will be escorted and tracked to voting stations. Our equipment has been finalised and is ready.”
He said more than 29,000 people had been employed for the elections, while training for election staff was already under way for the coming polls.
“In our training, we also introduce assessors, so our voting station staff have efficient knowledge, and we want a smooth process.”
But Mosehana said community protests, particularly spontaneous service delivery protests, remained a major concern.
“We are mindful of some of the disasters that happened across the province," he said.
"The other challenge that we have is community protest and service delivery protest.
"We are working with SAPS to ensure that South Africans are ready for the election day.”
Political parties attending the signing pledged to respect the code and help ensure that protests do not disrupt the elections.
The ANC head of elections in the province, Nanziwe Rulashe-Nesi, said the party was committed to respecting the electoral code throughout the election process.
“We commit to conduct ourselves with dignity, discipline and respect to all South African political parties, candidates, voters and electoral institutions.
"As the ANC we reaffirm to credible free elections,” she said.
DA provincial leader Andrew Whitfield called on all contestants to uphold transparency and ensure the elections were free and fair.
“The DA believes in fair and free elections, and calls for transparency in the upcoming elections,” he said.
Daily Dispatch