<\/p>\n
The ANC approached the Court following a dispute with the IEC over the party\u2019s failure to click the final submission button before the deadline.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The ruling allows ANC candidates to contest the November 4 local government elections in affected municipalities across the Eastern Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula welcomed the judgment outside Constitution Hill, saying the party had chosen to resolve the dispute through legal channels. \u201cThe Constitution has spoken, and it has spoken for the people of this country,\u201d Mbalula said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not wish to win an election by any road other than the ballot. That is the character of this movement, and today it has been vindicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Political Analyst Sandile Swana said the decision could allow the ANC to retain municipalities where previous support remained strong. \u201cIn the most direct sense, it means that there are a number of municipalities, probably about six, that the ANC will win because these are traditional strongholds,\u201d Swana said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ANC would have lost by being absent.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Swana expected the ANC to perform strongly in parts of the Eastern Cape but cautioned that contests would remain closely fought.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Mangaung, Swana said the ANC could record a respectable result but might require a coalition to govern.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IEC and Democratic Alliance had argued that electoral rules and submission deadlines should apply equally to every political party.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Swana said the judgment could influence how incomplete candidate submissions are handled during future elections. \u201cRights must be equal,\u201d Swana said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Swana argued that other parties in the same position should receive equivalent treatment if candidate information had been uploaded before the deadline but the final submission button had not been pressed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IEC could also consider modifying the online nomination platform so that information already captured on the system was automatically submitted when the deadline arrived. \u201cThe system itself must have an automatic final submission at 17:00, so anything in the system at that time is automatically submitted,\u201d Swana said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40960,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-48079","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa's Constitutional Court has reinstated the African National Congress (ANC) candidates in six municipalities after the party failed to finalise candidate submissions on the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) online system.","published_date":"","news_description":"South Africa's Constitutional Court has reinstated the African National Congress (ANC) candidates in six municipalities after the party failed to finalise candidate submissions on the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) online system.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48085,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48079\/revisions\/48085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=48079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}