JOHANNESBURG - The Electoral Court has dismissed the ANC’s appeal to have 181 councillor candidates included on the ballot after the party missed the candidate submission deadline.
The ruling means the affected candidates will not contest the local government elections on 4 November.
The dispute centred on the ANC’s candidate list submissions for six municipalities. The party challenged the IEC’s decision to exclude its candidates, arguing that it had not missed the deadline.
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The ANC said technical glitches in the IEC’s electronic system prevented it from finalising its submissions on time. The IEC rejected the explanation.
The commission is expected to publish the final list of candidates on Wednesday.
Elections analyst Wayne Sussman said the ruling was a setback for the ANC ahead of the elections.
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“This means that in key ANC strongholds like Port St Johns and Ngquza Hill Local Municipality, they will not have any ward or proportional representation councillors. That is a setback for ANC activists, councillors and the people who planned to vote for the party on election day,” Sussman said.
“This is not a good day for the ANC; they’ll need to bounce back and focus on getting everything right so they can have the best possible result on 4 November.”
The ANC said it will appeal the Electoral Court ruling.
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