JOHANNESBURG - An election analyst has pointed out that legal precedent goes against the ANC.
This is as the party is now waiting to see whether a Constitutional Court ruling will allow the submission of 181 candidates after the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) deadline.
According to Wayne Sussman, the National Freedom Party failed to submit its candidate list in the 2016 local government elections; as a result, the IEC did not allow them to run in the elections, seeing them lose an overwhelming number of councillors in KwaZulu-Natal.
“So historical precedent is not on the ANC side and the IEC has been quite categorical about that. Of course, the court has to make its determination and its decision, but history is not on the ANC side,” Sussman added.
The IEC has stuck to its guns in front of the Concourt.
They argue that the ANC never completed the candidate submission process and thus didn't adhere to the deadline.
They also argue that the same system has been in place for the past few elections and ask what would've changed now.
The ANC has argued that the IEC was in possession of their draft list of candidates for six municipalities and that the Submit as Final button was not a legal obligation.
Judgment has been reserved.