ANC to take IEC candidate glitch fight to Electoral Court
The ANC is preparing to challenge the Electoral Commission’s decision to exclude some of its candidates from the 4 November local government elections, with the party set to approach the Electoral Court.
President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed the move today, Friday while campaigning in Tembisa. The dispute centres on candidates whose details were captured on the IEC’s Online Candidate Nomination System but were not formally submitted before the 28 August 17:00 deadline.
The ANC says technical problems prevented some of its candidates from completing the final submission process, particularly in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mangaung. The party is reportedly seeking recognition of candidate records already captured on the IEC’s system rather than an extension of the deadline.
The IEC, however, disputes the technical-failure claim. CEO Sy Mamabolo said the Commission had received no reports that its system was non-functional on the day nominations closed and maintained that being “captured” on the system did not mean a candidate had been formally submitted.
The IEC says 2,274 potential candidates linked to 45 political parties were captured but not finally submitted by the deadline. This includes 1,794 ward candidates and 480 proportional-representation candidates.
The Commission has said it will not reopen the nomination system, with the final candidate lists expected to be published on 16 September.
