ANC Welcomes IEC's Decision to Reopen Candidate List Registrations

• President Cyril Ramaphosa says the African National Congress is pleased with the IEC for reopening candidate registration
• The IEC announced that it would allow for voter registration to take place later this month as well as candidate registration, as per a ConCourt ruling
• The Democratic Alliance does not agree with the IEC's decision to reopen the process of candidate registration

JOHANNESBURG - The South African Independent Electoral Commission confirmed on Monday that local government elections will be held on 1 November.

The IEC also informed South Africans that, in accordance with a Constitutional Court order, voter registration weekend will take place on 18 and 19 September, allowing those who wish to exercise their Constitutional right to vote to do so.

In addition to voter registration taking place, the IEC announced that they have taken the decision to reopen candidate registration after the deadline had previously been set for 23 August.

Read also

Bheki Cele says alcohol sales may be banned on 1 November: "That’s all he’s concerned about"

Following the announcement, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated in his closing speech at the ANC NEC lekgotla that the ruling party welcomed the IEC's decision to give political parties another opportunity to register their candidates, according to EWN.

The IEC argued that the reason for reopening candidate registration was to allow potential candidates who have not been registered on the voter roll and would like to contest the elections the right to do so. In South Africa, an individual can register as a candidate only after they have been registered on the voters roll.

The Municipal Electoral Act states that voter registration needs to place before the candidate registration and the IEC says they are following what is stipulated in the ACT.

The new dates for candidate registration have been set for 20 and 21 September.

Read also

FNB promises R3 million to vaccinated account holders through a random draw

DA is against IEC's decision to reopen candidate registration

The Democratic Alliance is not pleased with the IEC's decision to reopen the candidate registration. The opposition party says that it will urgently lodge legal action against the IEC to prevent the process from reopening, according to News24.

Helen Zille, the DA federal council chairperson, argues that while the Constitutional Court ordered the IEC to allow for voter registration, the reopening of registration for candidates was not part of the Constitutional Court's order.

Zille says the two processes are distinct from one another and voter registration, which was meant to take place in July, was cancelled due to the coronavirus third wave. However, candidate registration actually took place and there is no need for that process to take place again.

Zille highlighted that other political organisations such as the IFP and NFP were not afforded the same opportunity to register their candidates once the deadline passed.

Read also

Battle of words by Herman Mashaba and Mzwanele Manyi causes buzz: "The gloves are off"

The IEC expects local government elections to take place on 1 November

Briefly News previously reported that the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) following a ruling by the Constitutional Court last week has announced to political parties that they are looking at the new date for local government elections, being 1 November, after being instructed to select a date between 27 October and 1 November.

Monday saw an important meeting of the IEC’s party liaison committee occurring after an emergency meeting hosted over the weekend to converse on the Constitutional Court decision.

Glen Mashinini, IEC chairperson expresses that it is understandable and important to fix the timetable and to reopen registrations going on to state that Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will be announcing the new date for the elections.

Source: Briefly News