ConCourt backs extension of vote-candidate registration

The Constitutional Court backed the electoral authority’s decision to allow political parties more time to register candidates for municipal elections.

The judgment enables the ruling African National Congress to field candidates in all of the nation’s wards, after it failed to register candidates for at least 35 municipalities by a previous deadline. Opposition parties including the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party had opposed the registration extension.

“The Constitutional Court held that the decision of the electoral commission to re-open the candidate nomination process for the 2021 municipal elections, in terms of this court’s order issued on September 3, is not unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid,” the court said in a statement on its Twitter account Monday.

Municipal elections will take place on November 1, after the Constitutional Court previously dismissed an application by the Independent Electoral Commission to postpone the vote until next year, citing the impact that coronavirus restrictions would have on the authority’s ability to conduct a free and fair vote.

(1/2) Judgment: The Constitutional Court held that the decision of the Electoral Commission to re-open the candidate nomination process for the 2021 municipal elections, in terms of this Court’s order issued on 3 September 2021, is not unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid.

— Constitutional Court (@ConCourtSA) September 20, 2021

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