The Constitutional Court ruling was widely expected after the court at the weekend published its reasoning for an order a fortnight ago dismissing the IEC’s application to postpone the local government elections until next year.
It means the ANC has another chance to register candidates in 93 municipalities after missing the original 23 August deadline to do so.
However, when the court released the full judgment at the weekend, it became apparent that the application would fail. On Monday, the court said the commission was, therefore, correct in submitting that the order did not preclude it from amending the current timetable in relation to candidate registration.
“Notably, the ANC failed timeously to submit its party lists and ward candidate nominations in respect of 20 municipalities and 598 wards. In 13 of these municipalities, the ANC has comfortable majorities in the municipal councils, and has enjoyed these majorities in 11 of them for many years,” it said.
The DA had argued that reopening the process would leave the IEC open to allegations that it was biased in favour of the governing party. The court said if the main opposition, or any other party, wanted to challenge the process on those grounds, Monday’s ruling did not prevent them from doing so.
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