ANC Says ConCourt Application Would Be a ‘Duplicate’ of the IEC's

• The African National Congress (ANC), currently the ruling part, has approached the Constitutional Court with an application intended to postpone local elections
• The potential decision by the Constitutional Court to rule against the IEC has been warned against by the ANC as they express plans to contest elections at approximately 185 municipalities
• In the event that the Constitutional Court rules in favour of the IEC, the ruling party (ANC) would ultimately benefit, in spite of the confusion the situation would cause

The African National Congress (ANC) is hoping that the application to the Constitutional Court to have local elections postponed comes true. The news follows an earlier decision by the ruling party to take back its application to the Electoral Court, where they wanted the court to force the IEC to reopen the registration for candidates.

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However, according to SABC News, if the ConCourt does not rule in favour of the IEC, the ruling party will contest elections in about 185 municipalities.

What happens if the ConCourt rules in favour of the IEC?

If the ruling follows the IEC, the IEC would have to draw another timetable for elections. This would create a lot of confusion but would be a relief for the ruling party. Dakota Legoete of the ANC stated that going forward with the Electoral Court application would be a copy of the efforts made by the IEC to the ConCourt.

Legoete said that the party has made a decision to no longer approach the Electoral Court as the ANC and IEC both brought applications to the apex court, requesting the postponement of the local government elections.

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A previous report by eNCA revealed that the ANC said in a statement that they would be withdrawing from the electoral court application to reopen the registration of candidates.

ANC to take IEC to Electoral Court over failed registration of 30 ward candidates

Previously, Briefly News reported on the ANC when they said it is going to approach the Electoral Court to reopen the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)'s nomination process for candidates just before the start of the local government elections.

The IEC reportedly closed its systems on the evening of Monday, 23 August after opening to parties on 3 August. Although there were 20 days, the ANC raised a complaint that they faced a number of challenges which saw 30 ward candidates excluded. They did not appear on the voter register.

According to EWN, the ruling party stated that the challenges it faced were beyond its control; this is regarding the uploading of a candidates' list. The party's Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte briefed the media about the above on Thursday, 26 August.

Source: Briefly News