South Africa Electoral Court dismisses ANC appeal over candidate lists

South Africa's Electoral Court on Wednesday dismissed the African National Congress's appeal to include 181 candidates in six municipalities for the November 4 local government elections, ruling the party failed to complete the final submission step on the Electoral Commission's system. The judgment, delivered after a virtual hearing on Tuesday, centred on whether candidate information captured on the IEC's online system before the August 28 deadline constituted a formal submission. The court granted the Democratic Alliance leave to intervene in the dispute, while also dismissing an application from the African Transformation Movement as inordinately late. The ANC's legal team had argued that the party had provided all required information and documentation before the deadline, and that the failure to click a final submission button should not result in exclusion. The IEC maintained that capturing or uploading information did not amount to formal submission and that the ANC had failed to complete the required process. Following the judgment, the ANC announced it would pursue the next legal step.