IEC extends cut-off to register election candidates

The decision follows last week’s ruling by the Constitutional Court that the vote must take place between October 27 and November 1, and that the voters’ roll must be reopened. The court didn’t specify whether candidate registration should also be extended leaving the IEC’s decision open to legal challenge.

Opposition parties including Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party said in emailed statements that they have briefed their lawyers to explore all available legal avenues to oppose the decision.

“The IEC cannot be used by the governing party to do its bidding,” the DA’s Federal Chairwoman Helen Zille said.

The ANC has been dogged by a shortage of funds and its staff have gone on strike because they haven’t been paid. The party blamed the IEC for its failure to register candidates in 93 municipalities, saying its computer systems had repeatedly malfunctioned.

Africa’s oldest political movement, the ANC has ruled South Africa nationally since the nation’s first multiracial elections in 1994. It hemorrhaged support in the last municipal elections in 2016, a backlash against then-President Jacob Zuma’s scandal-marred rule, and lost control over the economic hub of Johannesburg and Tshwane. It has since regained power in Johannesburg. Had the extension not been granted, the ANC risked losing power in about 35 local councils by default, including a number in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, one of its main strongholds. It also would have ceded control of the Tshwane metropolitan area, which includes the capital, Pretoria, to the opposition.

Other highlights 

• The Electoral Commission will hold a voter registration weekend on September 18-19.
• The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs will announce the election date on September 20.