Electoral Court rules today on 181 ANC candidates blocked from 4 November ballot

The Electoral Court in Bloemfontein hands down judgment this morning on whether 181 ANC councillor candidates can be added to the ballot for the 4 November local government elections, after the party missed the commission’s 28 August submission deadline.

Judgment was reserved on Tuesday night, following two and a half hours of argument, SABC News reports.

The case turns on a single disputed fact. The ANC says a technical glitch on the Electoral Commission’s candidate system stopped it capturing and uploading more than 180 councillor names before the deadline closed. The commission has rejected that account, telling the court the party knew the rules and there was no fault on the system at the point of submission.

What each side told the court

The ANC’s counsel, Advocate Daniel Burger, argued that his client’s candidates are being excluded from the November polls unlawfully. The party wants the court to direct that the uncaptured names be accepted.

The commission, represented by Advocate Terry Motau SC, dismissed the application. Its position is that the deadline was clear, the party understood it, and no glitch prevented compliance.

The Democratic Alliance’s counsel, Michael Bishop, opposed the ANC’s application. His argument was that strict adherence to election deadlines is what makes an election free and fair, and that the same cut-off has to apply to every party contesting the poll.

Why the date matters to voters

A candidate submission deadline is not administrative housekeeping. It is the point at which the ballot is fixed, the point at which voters in a ward learn who is asking for their vote, and the point at which every party is held to the same set of rules.

If the court grants the ANC relief, the ballot in the affected wards changes after the deadline that every other party met. If it refuses, those 181 names stay off the ballot and the wards they were meant to contest go to the polls without them.

Either way, the practical effect lands on voters in specific wards who will see a different list of names on 4 November from the one their party intended to put in front of them.

A short timeline, and a fixed poll date

The commission set 28 August as the closing date for councillor candidate submissions. The ANC says its captures failed before that date. Argument was heard on Tuesday, judgment was reserved that evening, and the ruling is expected on Wednesday morning.

The local government elections are set down for 4 November. Whatever the court decides, the commission has to finalise and print ballot papers for every municipality in the country, which means the window between this judgment and the poll is already tight.

The Electoral Court is the specialist court that hears disputes arising from the electoral law, and its rulings bind the commission. Its decision on Wednesday settles the candidate question for this election, not for future ones.

The judgment is expected in Bloemfontein on Wednesday morning.

Source: SABC News (website), Judgment due in ANC-IEC dispute