Candidates not on the voter's roll

[Dave A]

Interesting little question that comes from this story:

The Electoral Court will decide on the eligibility of election candidates who do not appear on the voters' roll, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) head said on Monday.

Tlakula said being "qualified to vote" was one of the criteria for appearing on a candidate list to represent a particular party in government.

"A person qualified to stand is a person who is qualified to vote and you are not qualified to vote if you are not registered," she said.

Tlakula objected to 297 candidates from 28 parties. A total of 110 of these did not appear on the voters' roll.

The Electoral Act did not stipulate whether a candidate should be registered or not.
full story from M&G here

The matter has been referred to the Electoral Court so I guess we'll learn the legal postion in due course.

But whatever the legal position, it does seem a little odd to me. How can you make yourself available to be elected when you couldn't be bothered to register as a voter yourself?

It's like wanting to be president of the club without even making the effort to become a member.

What do you think?