Testing the Right to Vote in Free, Fair, and Regular Local Government Elections in South Africa: Challenges from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This article uses the doctrinal legal research method to examine the challenges that faced South Africa in preparing for the 2021 local government elections. The health risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic led the national executive to promulgate emergency health regulations and impose lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Inadvertently, these measures threatened the freeness and fairness of the local government elections by restricting political mobilisation and freedom of movement and association. They also led the Electoral Commission to attempt, through an inquiry and a court application, to postpone the 2021 local government elections. The discussion shows that contrary to its contentions on the impossibility of holding the elections in 2021, the Electoral Commission had unwittingly demonstrated that it was well-prepared to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infections. This article concludes that a postponement of the elections was not warranted and would have led to legitimacy and constitutional crises. It would have undermined the democratic foundation of the South African Constitution and would have unlawfully infringed on the right to participate in free, fair, and regular elections.