Twenty-eight political parties have submitted candidate lists to contest the elections nationally, chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said on Tuesday.

Briefing the media following Monday's 5pm deadline, Tlakula said she was satisfied with the organised manner in which most parties submitted their lists.

However, the submissions would still need to be scrutinised to determine if they met the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) regulations.

Once finalised, the party leader's photograph would be printed on the ballot paper.

Tlakula dismissed media reports that the Congress of the People had struck an agreement with the IEC about the photograph that would appear.

"We did not strike any agreement with any political party. The commission determines the design of the ballot paper. The person whose photo appears on the ballot paper is the photo of the leader."

Tlakula was responding to a Business Day article reporting that the IEC would let Cope submit the photograph only on 10 March.

Citing a leadership battle, the newspaper claimed that the "agreement" opened the door for either Cope's presidential candidate Mvume Dandala or its president Terror Lekota to appear as the face of the party on the ballot.

Printing the ballots

Tlakula reiterated that the leader of a party would appear on the ballot. She would however not comment on who, in Cope's case, would be featured.

Tlakula said printing of the ballots would begin on 11 March, after the draw to determine which party would appear at the top.

"Campaigning will now start in earnest."

She said 11 political parties had submitted lists to contest elections for the national assembly as well as in all nine provinces.

These were the: Independent Democrats, African National Congress, Inkatha Freedom Party, African Christian Democratic Party, United Christian Democratic Party, Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, African People's Convention, United Democratic Movement, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, and the Congress of the People.

The three parties that only submitted lists for national elections were Keep it Straight and Simple, the A Party, and the Hlanganani Sakhe Isizwe.

Fourteen parties would contest the national assembly and one or more provincial legislatures.

Another 14 would contest one or more provincial legislatures only.

Altogether 42 parties, of the 117 registered nationally, submitted lists.

Tlakula said the provincial list of 28 parties for the general and all nine provincial elections was an increase from the previous elections.

In 2004, 21 parties contested nationally.

Tlakula said some parties had arrived late on Monday night to submit lists, despite widespread announcements of the cut-off date and time.

They would have to wait another five years to contest the next elections, said Tlakula.

The details of the parties who arrived late were not known.

Sapa