Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951/1962-06-22

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as amended by

Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, No. 30 of 1956 Electoral Laws Further Amendment Act, No. 8 of 1957 Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, No. 2 of 1958 Electoral Laws Amendment Act, No. 72 of 1962

E IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa, as follows:―

1. In this Act, unless inconsistent with the context—

“Minister” means the Minister of the Interior;

“non-European” means a person who is not a white person and who is not a native for the purposes of the Representation of Natives Act, 1936 (Act No. 12 of 1936);

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulation made under the principal Act;

“principal Act” means the Electoral Consolidation Act, 1946 (Act No. 46 of 1946);

“white person” means any person classified as a white person in terms of the Population Registration Act, 1950 (Act No. 30 of 1950);

20. (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (4) of section four and of sub-sections (3), (4), (4)bis and (5) of this section, the provisions of the principal Act (including the regulations thereunder) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply in regard to the election of members of the House of Assembly, of the provincial council for the province of the Cape of Good Hope, and of members of the Council under this Act, and in regard to all matters incidental thereto.

(2) The first elections of members of the House of Assembly, or of provincial councillors under this Act, shall not take place until—

in consequence of the dissolution of the House of Assembly under any provision of the South Africa Act, 1909, a general election for the House of Assembly is to take place or until (as the case may be) by virtue of the expiry of the term of office of the provincial council for the province of the Cape of Good Hope in terms of section seventy-three of the said Act, a general election for the said provincial council is to take place; and

there has been a new Union delimitation.

(3) (a) The election of members of the House of Assembly or of provincial councillors under this Act shall take place not less than eight days before the date proclaimed for polling day in terms of paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section thirty-five of the principal Act for the purposes of a general election.

(b) For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of paragraph (a), a special proclamation shall be issued in terms mutatis mutandis of section thirty-five of the principal Act.

(4) In regard to elections of members of the Council, the provisions of the principal Act shall apply, mutatis mutandis, as if they were elections for members of the House of Assembly, save that—

the deposit or security required in terms of section thirty-seven of the principal Act, shall be the sum of fifteen pounds;

in cases where more candidates than the number of candidates to be elected at any election are nominated in respect of any division, a voter, upon receipt of a ballot paper, shall mark the said paper on the right-hand side with a cross in the space provided opposite the name of each of the candidates or the candidate for whom he wishes to vote;

any ballot paper on which votes are marked for more candidates than the number of candidates for which the voter is entitled to vote, shall be invalid and shall not be counted, and any ballot paper on which a vote is marked for only one candidate, shall be counted as a number of votes for that candidate equal to the number of candidates to be elected at that election;

when the counting of the ballot papers has been completed, the returning officer shall declare the candidates for whom the highest number of votes have been recorded, to be duly elected. In cases where two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes and all of such candidates cannot be declared elected, the returning officer shall immediately, in the presence of all persons present at the count, settle by drawing of lots which of such candidates shall be declared elected.

(4)bis At elections of members of the House of Assembly or provincial councillors under this Act or of members of the Council no person other than a non-European or a white person shall be nominated or appointed as an election agent or a sub-agent, polling agent or messenger.

(5) The Minister may make regulations to provide for the special requirements relating to the procedure to be followed at elections under the provisions of this Act, which regulations may amend or modify or differ from any regulations framed under the principal Act, and may provide that—

more than one polling station may be established in a polling district for the convenience of voters;

no polling station be established in a polling district in which less than fifty voters are registered;

voters who are registered in polling districts in which less than fifty voters are registered may vote as absent voters;

voters who are resident or employed more than five miles, by the nearest practicable route, from a polling station in the electoral division, may vote as absent voters; and

applications to vote as absent voters shall not be received by returning officers later than 4 o’clock on the afternoon of the eighth day before the polling day.