Electoral Court upholds IEC decision to reject party’s registration

The Arise Afrika Arise (AAAR), political party will not take part in the 2024 elections after it’s application to register as a political party was turned down by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The AAAR application was rejected on the grounds that its name resembled that of another registered party, namely, Arise South Africa, and that it was likely to confuse or deceive the voters.

The decision was later upheld by the Electoral Court (EC) after party leader, Ben Suping Mothupi, who describes himself as a natural Philanthropist and a born again Christian, turned to the court to try and overturn the IEC’s decision.

In 2023, the AAAR party had submitted an application to be registered as a political party but that application was also rejected because it had fraudulent signatures. the court said in a statement.

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AAAR ASKS EC COURT TO OVERLOOK LATE APPLICATION

“The applicant, Arise Afrika Arise (abbreviated AAAR), brought an application to the EC seeking the following relief to review and set aside the respondent’s decision of 2 August 2023 in terms of which the Independent Electoral Commission….refuse(d) to register the applicant as a political party,” said the EC in a statement.

“The application was late and should have been brought within 3 days after 2 August 2023, hence Arise Afrika Arise filed an application for
condonation of the late filing of the review application.”

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EC: CONFUSION IF BOTH NAMES USED ON BALLOT PAPER

The EC said the IEC was right in its decision to reject the AAAR application because an undecided voter may cast their vote for Arise Afrika Arise when in fact their intention was to vote for Arise South Africa or may put their mark next to Arise South Africa when their intention was to cast their vote for Arise Afrika Arise.

“The EC was of the view that on a comparison of the two names, it can properly be said that there is a reasonable likelihood of confusion if both are to be used together on the ballot paper as the emphasis in both names is on the two words ‘Arise’ and ‘Afrika’.”

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AAAR 2023 IEC APPLICATION REJECTED – ‘FRAUDULENT SIGNATURES’

In May last year, Arise Afrika Arise, applied for registration as a political party but this was rejected on the grounds that the signatures of the registered voters on the deed of foundation showed patterns of discrepancies. This is a contravention of regulation 3(1)(a)(i) of the Regulations for the Registration of Political Parties, 2004.

This regulation requires that the deed of foundation of a party seeking national registration must be signed by 1000 registered voters.

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‘REGISTERED VOTERS DUPLICATED ON DEED OF FOUNDATION’

“In its grounds of appeal, Arise Afrika Arise did not challenge the respondent’s finding that the signatures of registered voters on the deed of foundation were fraudulent and that the names of some of the registered voters on the deed of foundation were duplicated.” the court said.

The EC also said that it was clear from the evidence that AAAR could not have met the threshold of 1000 qualified voters and that the respondent (IEC) was therefore justified in rejecting the application which does not comply with the Act.