Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951/1965-06-16

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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 Coloured Persons Representative Council Act, No. 49 of 1964 Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, No. 72 of 1965

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 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) Members of the House of Assembly or pro­vincial councillors who, under this Act, are members of the House of Assembly or the provincial council concerned at the commencement of the Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act, 1965, or are thereafter declared to be duly elected as members of the House of Assembly or as provincial councillors, including any such members or councillors declared to be elected under the provisions of section eighty-eight of the principal Act, shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other law contained, hold office for a period determined by effluxion of time, five years after the date of the last general election of members of the House of Assembly or of pro­vincial councillors, as the case may be, under this Act.

(b) For the purpose of providing for a general election of members of the House of Assembly or of provincial councillors under this Act, a special proclamation shall be issued, in terms mutatis mutandis of section thirty-five of the principal Act, on a date not later than seven days after the termination of the period of office of the sitting members or councillors.

(c) Any reference in section fifty-three or sub-section (2) of section seventy-one of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act, 1961 (Act No. 32 of 1961), to the dissolution of the House of Assembly or a provincial council, as the case may be, shall, in relation to a member of the House of Assembly or to a provincial councillor elected under this Act, be construed as a reference to the date on which such member’s or councillor’s period of office expires by effluxion of time.

(d) For the purposes of this section a general election of members of the House of Assembly or of provincial councillors to whom this Act applies, means an election at which all those members of the House of Assembly or those provincial councillors are to be elected on the same day.

(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.