ANC takes IEC list battle for 181 excluded candidates to ConCourt

The ANC has approached the Constitutional Court to fight for the inclusion of 181 candidates who have been excluded from the 4 November local government elections.

The party filed an application for leave to appeal on Tuesday, six days after the Electoral Court dismissed its challenge against the decision of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to bar the candidates from contesting in six municipalities, as the final deadline had passed.

In a founding affidavit filed on Tuesday, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told the court the party’s exclusion from six municipalities rests on a fundamental misinterpretation of electoral law.

“This application concerns the interpretation of the word ‘submit’ in the Municipal Electoral Act and whether a button in a computer programme can impose a condition of compliance which the law does not,” Mbalula said.