Ahead of South Africa’s 2024 elections, later this year, the Multi-Party Charter (MPC) has approached the international community for assistance in safeguarding against any attempts to disrupt the election or influence the electorate.

The 11 parties that make up the Charter have written to Ministers and organisations across the world for technical support to allay concerns of “foreign influence” in the elections.

“While we have qualified confidence in the Electoral Commission of South Africa, parties in the MPC are acutely aware that they have assembled the biggest voting bloc outside of the ANC [African National Congress] in the history of our democracy. This, alongside the certain loss of a national ANC majority this year, means that the efforts to capture this election will be greater than ever before. We recognise that our domestic efforts to ensure electoral integrity can and must be shored up,” they said.

It added that South Africa’s election, this year, was the most crucial since the first democratic election in 1994, particularly as national support for the ruling ANC is set to fall below 50%.

While this could see the set-up of a new government, the MPC said this also heightened the threat to electoral integrity.

“Therefore, the parties to the Multi-Party Charter are using every means available to us to ensure a free and fair election. Now is the time to rally all true supporters of democracy around South Africa’s democratic cause,” it said.

The MPC has committed to ensure oversight over voting stations across the country, while also calling on civil society to assist with voter education. It also wants international observers before and during the election and capacity-building for domestic monitors.

“We have appealed to foreign governments and relevant organisations to recognize the high stakes involved - for South Africa, for the continent of Africa, and for democracies globally,” the MPC said.