The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says more political parties are interested in contesting next year’s elections.
Twenty-six new parties have been registered over the past year and the applications of another 22 are under consideration.
The IEC has tabled its annual report to Parliament from which it receives R1.3 billion in funding.
Despite the increased pressures ahead of the 2019 polls, the IEC says it’s managed to keep its spending in check.
There are currently just more than 26 million people on the voter’s roll, but the IEC is still working furiously to attach an address to each name in line with a Constitutional Court order.
This is also having the effect of political parties contesting the validity of addresses and stalling municipal by-elections.
The IEC says 563 political parties are currently registered to participate in next year’s national election.
Only a 100 are currently represented in legislative bodies, 56 of them at a national level.
A controversial office park lease that has dogged the electoral commission since 2014 is the only blot on its financials this year.
The IEC has raked up R71 million in irregular expenditure on the lease, which the North Gauteng High Court last year ruled it must honour until 2020.
