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The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) has confirmed its decision to reject the registration of Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA as a political party on the basis that the logo and name are similar to those of another party.
Mashaba said ActionSA was informed of the IEC’s decision on Monday and is consulting with its legal team to study it.
“It is clear that ActionSA has an excellent prospect of successfully reviewing the IEC’s decision by the higher court on an urgent basis, however ActionSA must now weigh the merits of its options,” he said.
ActionSA, which supports a free market economy, no racism, social justice and adherence to the rule of law, was officially launched in late August and registered with the IEC in September.
That same month, the electoral commission rejected the party’s registration. on the basis of a “perceived similarity” to another political party, Partido de Acción SA, which had never participated in elections before despite being registered, and the use of the SA flag in the logo.
ActionSA appealed the decision. On the issue of the use of the South African flag, Mashaba said that the IEC confirmed the party’s appeal, but not on the issue of the similarity of the logo and name.
Mashaba’s party has its sights set on participating in the 2021 local government elections. However, if ActionSA cannot register as a political party with the IEC, it will not be eligible to participate.
Mashaba said the party was shocked by the IEC’s decision and the basis on which it rationalized its decision to reject the appeal.
He said the IEC, in its reasons for rejection, relied heavily on a study conducted on voters and elections, despite the fact that the same study claims that the report “does not allow generalization to the general public.”
The study cited this because it involved 91 interviews and eight focus groups, which the study itself recognized was not statistically representative, Mashaba said.
He said the IEC relied on generalizations made in the report, such as the ability of reasonable voters to discern subtle differences, and stated that: “Discerning subtle differences in the names and logos of political parties will elude many reasonable voters.”
“What is also quite remarkable in the decision to dismiss the appeal, the IEC accepted that they used to register political parties with similar logos, but as there were fewer political parties this seemed acceptable to them. The IEC stated that: ‘In the past, when few political parties applied for registration, the CEO [chief electoral officer] you could afford to be generous in the exercise of your discretion to search them, ‘”Mashaba said.
It said ActionSA’s offer, made on its appeal, that the party’s marketing team present a “professional perspective” on the differences between the logos and inconsistencies with other previously registered logos, was not accepted.
“We are of the opinion that any effort to alter the logo would likely produce a similar problem precisely because there are more than 600 political parties, a situation caused by the IEC’s failure to terminate parties (according to its own regulations) that are not represented and did not participate in the general elections, ”said Mashaba.
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