ANC bid to register poll candidates

THE ANC is set to file an urgent application in the Electoral Court today to force the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) to allow more than 10 000 of the party’s members to contest the upcoming local government elections on October 27.

In a surprise turn of events, ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte admitted her party had failed to register all its candidates in compliance with the IEC registration deadline of 9pm on Monday. Duarte said they’d experienced glitches with the IEC’s online registration system, which rejected the identity numbers of some of their candidates, most of them firsttime candidates.

The ANC’s application in the Electoral Court today confirms the IEC's announcement that only two political parties had registered candidates to contest all 10 285 municipal council seats in the 257 municipalities including metros in the country.

The IEC’s chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo did not confirm the names of the parties but the DA and EFF have since confirmed that they have registered candidates for all wards.

Duarte said during a media briefing yesterday that the the ANC would file papers to the Electoral Court, asking it to force the IEC to accept those candidates who were excluded after her party “experienced glitches” with the electoral body’s online system.

According to Duarte, if their intended application before the Electoral Court fails, a total of between 29 and 30 of the 267 municipalities would not have an ANC candidate.

“Some of our candidates were rejected by the online system. Some of them were found not to have properly registered in the ward in which they stood as candidates for the upcoming local government elections.

“Most of them are young people who could have been affected by the fact that there was no voter registration to register them as first-time voters,” Duarte said.