This is four fewer than the 33 parties which had provisionally indicated their intention to contest the national election last week.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said this still remains the highest number of parties to contest a democratic national election in South Africa's history.
The parties that failed to rectify their non-compliance in respect of the required election deposit for the national election are the:
• African Unite Party
• Iqela Lentsango - Dagga Party
• Lekgotla for Democracy Advancement
• South African Progressive Civil Organisation
"A total of 31 parties were issued with notices from the Electoral Commission last week indicating non-compliance of the requirements to submit candidate lists and pay deposits.
"These notices applied to documentation in respect of approximately 300 candidates," said the IEC.
The IEC said by Tuesday, most parties had responded and submitted outstanding documentation, which electoral officials will now process in preparation for the publication of the lists of candidates for each party (national, regional and provincial) for public inspection from 28 March 2014.
An abbreviated list of candidates will be published on the IEC website but for security reasons will not include supporting documentation or ID numbers.
The comprehensive list including all supporting documentation will be available for inspection at the IEC head office in Centurion during office hours (0800 to 1700) on Friday 28 March, Monday 31 March and Tuesday 1 April.
The IEC said any objection to lists of candidates in terms of Section 30 of the Electoral Act (Act 73 of 1998) must be submitted to the Electoral Commission's head office in Centurion in writing before 5pm on Tuesday, 1 April 2014.
Such objections must indicate the reason for the objection to a candidate and must show that a copy of the objection has also been lodged with the relevant political party.
The Commission will rule on the objections by Monday, 7 April 2014, and any appeals to the rulings must be submitted to the Electoral Court by 10 April 2014.
The final deadline for decisions of the Electoral Court is 15 April 2014 following which the final list of candidates contesting the elections will be published on 22 April and certificates issued to candidates by 24 April.
A revised set of ballot paper examples for the national and provincial elections is available on the IEC website.
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