ConCourt rules that Electoral Amendment Act is lawful

JOHANNESBURG - The much debated Electoral Amendment Act is lawful.

That is according to a ruling by the Constitutional Court, following a bid to rule it otherwise by the Independent Candidates Association on Monday.

The ICA applied to the apex court in August, challenging the constitutionality of independent candidates only being allowed to contest 200 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly.

The organisation wanted independent candidates to be allowed to contest 350 seats.

However, the Constitutional Court says the ICA failed to prove its argument.

Meanwhile, Build One South Africa has won its Constitutional Court application to have the number of signatures required for independent candidates revised.

The controversial electoral amendment act required candidates to have 15 percent votes of a province’s population to obtain a provincial seat, compared to only a thousand signatures for political parties.