South African court to hear ANC appeal over incomplete submission of lists — TimesLIVE

In South Africa, the Constitutional Court is to consider an application by the African National Congress (ANC), which is challenging the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) refusal to accept part of its candidate lists for local elections. The ANC uploaded the lists to the online candidate nomination system but did not click the final submission button before the deadline, TimesLIVE reports.

The Electoral Commission’s position

The deadline for submitting the lists expired on August 28. The IEC believes that entering information into the Online Candidates Nominations System does not in itself mean that candidate registration has been completed, as the lists were not marked as finally submitted.

Deputy chief electoral officer Akhtari Hennig compared the procedure in a court filing to online banking: after entering the details, a user must confirm the payment. According to her, adding an item to a cart does not complete a purchase, and a taxpayer does not file a return if they have not clicked the send button.

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The ANC argues that clicking the final confirmation button was a routine technical function rather than a legally mandatory requirement.

Previous ruling and the DA’s position

Last month, the Electoral Court found that the IEC’s refusal to accept lists submitted after the deadline was lawful. The ruling concerns ANC candidates in at least six municipalities in the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

The DA party, which joined the case as an intervening party, also opposed the ANC’s position. DA Federal Council Chairperson Ashor Sarupen said that electoral rules and deadlines must apply equally to all political forces. He noted that the ANC submitted 250 lists on time but did not complete the submission of another seven.