ConCourt judgment in IEC, DA matter to be handed down on Monday

The Constitutional Court will on Monday hand down judgment on whether the decision of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) to reopen the candidate nomination process for the 2021 local government elections was unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid.

The judgment is expected to be handed down at 10am, the apex court confirmed in a statement on Sunday.

The ConCourt had earlier refused an IEC application to postpone the elections.

The DA filed an application against the IEC’s decision to reopen candidate lists for the local government elections after the ANC missed its deadline, allegedly due to technical glitches.

The ruling party failed to register and submit lists of the candidates who would represent it in the local government elections in 90 municipalities around the country. The decision to reopen the lists was seen by various political parties as the IEC giving the ANC a lifeline.

During an election campaign in Soweto on Saturday, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was asked how he felt ahead of the judgment. He said: “I am very relaxed and I think we have put forward a very good and cogent case on this matter and the legal arguments that we put forward are good and sound.”

Ramaphosa said the party would give the Constitutional Court space to issue its judgment. “We will respect whatever judgment the Constitutional Court comes up with. They are the apex court in our country, which all of us signed a contract that what the Constitutional Court concludes should be respected and accepted.”

On whether he would be having sleepless nights over the matter, Ramaphosa said, “Of course if it goes the other way and we are not able to field our candidates in a number of municipalities, that is a great concern to us but we are going to put our best foot forward in all the other municipalities where we will have our candidates.”

Furthermore, he said, “All in all, we are going to field our candidates all over and the ANC will run a good election campaign and we will win the elections.”

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