NATIONAL NEWS - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has moved to dismiss claims of special treatment for the ANC, stressing that no party has been granted – nor will any be granted – extra time to submit candidates for the 2026 local government elections.
This comes after the ANC earlier claimed it was unable to capture all its candidates in the IEC’s system due to a technical glitch.
The deadline for candidate list submissions was last Friday at 17:00.
Deadline
The ANC said it’s engaging the IEC to ensure all its candidate lists for the 4 November elections are captured, after failing to submit them before the deadline.
“The African National Congress has full confidence in the Electoral Commission and in the integrity of the electoral process.
“We commend the commission for its constructive engagement with all affected parties, and we are working with it to bring these outstanding matters to a close. We are confident they will be resolved,” the party said.
However, the IEC clarified that it has not allowed any party, nor does it intend to allow any party or independent candidate, an additional opportunity to capture beyond the candidate nomination deadline.
“All matters pertaining to the intricacies of the candidate nomination process would be discussed in the national political liaison committee constituted by all parties that are represented in the National Assembly,” the IEC stated.
ANC questioned
The IEC also clarified that the online candidate nomination system remained available to users throughout the nomination process, including the cut-off date, and questioned why the ANC waited until the last minute to submit its candidate lists on the IEC’s online system.
“Whereas the candidate nomination period officially began on proclamation day on 7 August, the commission opened the candidate nomination system earlier on 21 June, to ensure sufficient and uninterrupted use of the system ahead of the deadline by contestants,” the IEC stated.
This means the ANC now risks being locked out of the 2026 local government elections in any municipality where it failed to submit candidate lists before the official deadline.
Article: Caxton publication, The Citizen
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
