{"id":11413,"date":"2021-05-31T15:33:39","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T15:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?p=11413"},"modified":"2021-05-31T14:15:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T14:15:54","slug":"dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Cape Town – Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covid-19-related conditions.<\/p>\n

Following an announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the local government elections will take place on October 27, the Electoral Commission (IEC) recently appointed former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to evaluate whether Covid-related conditions would impact on the process.<\/p>\n

UWC political scientist Keith Gottschalk said the evaluation led by Moseneke would focus on the extent to which political rallies and door-to-door canvassing would be stopped by lockdown regulations, and the extent to which political parties in 2021 cannot substitute digital methods for old-style canvassing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, one-third of South African voters cannot afford smartphones to attend Zoom meetings. Many of those who can afford smartphones, especially the unemployed and retrenched, will have run out of airtime or data.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Moseneke recommends a postponement in municipal elections, this need not be more than 12 months, as the government should have completed Covid vaccinations before October 2022,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said postponing the elections should be the last resort. .<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should try to hold elections, even if we may not have normal elections as we are used to. Postponing elections should be the last resort, in my view. It\u2019s very important that we do not allow the Covid to suppress important rights (such) as the right to vote,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Political parties also weighed in.<\/p>\n

DA national spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube said any postponement of the elections should \u201conly be considered if the IEC cannot guarantee holding free, fair and safe elections\u201d.<\/p>\n

ANC MPL and the leader of the opposition, Cameron Dugmore, said they wanted the elections to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs MPLs we are working hard with the ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) to ensure that we are ready for the registration weekend on July 17 and 18, with the ID campaign, candidate selection and canvassing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Land Party chief leader Gcobani Ndzongana said elections should proceed, adding that they would be among political parties that would approach the Constitutional Court regarding the matter.<\/p>\n

Good Party national spokesperson Sam Shabane said the IEC did not have the discretion to delay the elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree and fair elections are possible as long as the contestants have the same opportunity to campaign, voters have the unfettered opportunity to express their will, and the outcome of the elections reflects the will of the voters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cape Times<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town – Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covid-19-related conditions. Following an announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the local government elections will take place on October 27, the Electoral Commission (IEC) recently appointed former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to evaluate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-11413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nDon\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cape Town - Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cape Town - Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-31T15:33:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-31T15:33:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts\"},\"wordCount\":417,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts\",\"name\":\"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-31T15:33:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Cape Town - Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covi ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":405,\"caption\":\"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts - South Africa","description":"Cape Town - Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covi ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts","og_description":"Cape Town - Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covi ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2021-05-31T15:33:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":405,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts","datePublished":"2021-05-31T15:33:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts"},"wordCount":417,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","files","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts","name":"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-31T15:33:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Cape Town - Political analysts have cautioned against suppressing people\u2019s right to vote amid a process to evaluate Covi ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2021\/05\/img-60b4ef7a1c809.jpg","width":720,"height":405,"caption":"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/dont-let-covid-19-stifle-democracy-by-delaying-elections-analysts#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Don\u2019t let Covid-19 stifle democracy by delaying elections: analysts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}