Samkelo Biyela
The African National Congress says it will appeal the Electoral Court ruling which excludes around 181 of its candidates for the local government elections in the 4th of November.
The ANC filed an appeal to the Electoral Court after failing to meet the deadline when capturing a list of over 180 candidates for registration at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
The party blamed the late submission on a technical glitch in the system, however the IEC did not accept their late submission.
Thus, the ANC stood to lose contestation of 181 candidate from over six municipalities in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.
The court granted the Democratic Alliance leave to intervene in the matter. The DA said the ANC’s internal operational failures should not be used as an excuse to bend the rules for candidate submissions ahead of the November local government elections.
On Wednesday, the Electoral Court in Bloemfontein ruled against the ANC’s appeal to have the IEC accept their late submission.
The ruling meant that the original decision, that the ANC appealed against stood and the party still stands to lose contestation in affected municipalities.
Following the courts judgement, the ANC has released an official statement announcing their plans to appeal the Electoral Court’s ruling.
“Having considered the judgement, the ANC will exercise its legal rights and pursue the appropriate appeal process. Our legal representatives will engage the court on the legal questions arising from the judgement,” reads the ANC statement.
The ANC will look to resolve their blunder with haste as the Local Government Elections are set to kick of in just over seven weeks.
