Constitutional Court Rules in ANC's Favour in IEC Candidate Lists Dispute

• The Constitutional Court granted the ANC leave to appeal after the IEC rejected its candidate lists for six municipalities ahead of the 4 November polls
• The dispute began when the ANC alleged a technical glitch prevented it from submitting 181 candidates online by the official deadline
• The Electoral Court had previously ruled in the IEC's favour before the matter was escalated to the Constitutional Court

JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG— The Constitutional Court has on 15 October 2026, by majority, upheld the ANC's appeal against the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), setting aside the Electoral Court's earlier ruling that had dismissed the party's challenge over rejected candidate lists.

The judgment, delivered on 15 October 2026, was reported by eNCA journalist Pule Letshwiti-Jones on X. The court ordered that the IEC's decision to reject the ANC's party lists for several municipalities be set aside, and that the affected lists be included in ballot papers ahead of the 4 November 2026 Local Government Elections.

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Municipalities affected by the ruling

The reinstatement covers candidate lists across six municipalities in three provinces. In the Eastern Cape, the ruling applies to Port St Johns, Ingquza Hill, Walter Sisulu (Burgersdorp), and Sundays River Valley local municipalities. In KwaZulu-Natal, the uMshwathi Local Municipality (Wartburg) is included, along with municipalities in the Free State.

The dispute originated when the ANC alleged that a technical glitch on the IEC's online submission system had prevented the party from submitting 181 candidates by the official deadline. The IEC rejected the lists on the grounds that the deadline had been missed. The ANC escalated the matter to the Electoral Court, which ruled in the IEC's favour, prompting the party to take the case to the Constitutional Court.

View the X tweet here:

Public reacts strongly

The ruling drew sharp criticism from a section of the public, with many questioning the Constitutional Court's reasoning ahead of the full written judgment.

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@mbuzi34557 said:

"The Constitutional Court is so captured my goodness, we'll wait for the reasons."

@MKgapMach wrote:

"The IEC will have to press a submit button for all parties in all elections. A can of worm is open for complacency and mediocrity with this judgement."

@OTEGA_ZA commented:

"Chief Justice Mogoeng was right 😭"

@debarnbb stated:

"It is up to us the citizens to deal with this ANC, they cannot go and dispute our votes at the Constitutional Court 👊🏾"

@Muhskvah asked:

"Only ANC's candidates? What about candidates from other political parties with similar experience?"

The court's full written reasons for the majority decision had not yet been published at the time of reporting.

IEC warns of costs of Constitutional Court ruling in ANC's favour

In a related article, Briefly News reported on the IEC’s potential extra costs if the Constitutional Court reinstates 181 ANC candidates for the November 4 local government elections. The commission said 66% of ballots had already been printed when the dispute arose.

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The money spent printing ballots for affected municipalities cannot be recovered, regardless of the court’s ruling. With judgment reserved and election day approaching, the IEC may need to print replacement ballots at additional cost.

Source: Briefly News