IEC to implement Constitutional Court ruling on ANC candidate lists

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it will comply with the Constitutional Court’s ruling in favour of the African National Congress (ANC) in a dispute over candidate lists for the 4 November local government elections.

The ruling follows the ANC’s failure to complete the final submission of its candidate lists for six municipalities before the prescribed deadline. The ruling, handed down on Thursday, 15 October, follows the ANC’s appeal against an Electoral Court judgment that upheld the IEC’s decision to exclude the candidates from the ballot.

IEC NOTES CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING ON ANC CANDIDATE LISTS

The South African previously reported that Constitutional Court Justice Rammaka Mathopo said the IEC’s decision to reject the ANC’s candidate lists in the six municipalities had been set aside.

“The first respondent, which is the IEC, is directed to do all things necessary to include the party lists and ward candidate nominations mentioned in paragraph four of this order, and the lists and nominations onto the ballot papers and all other relevant processes for the purposes of the 4 November 2026 local elections,” he said.

The IEC said it respects the authority of the Constitutional Court as the final arbiter and will give effect to its order.

IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said the Commission’s position throughout the legal proceedings had been guided by its interpretation of the applicable electoral legislation and the need to ensure the consistent application of prescribed electoral processes.

However, she said the IEC recognised its constitutional obligation to implement the Court’s decision.

“The IEC will communicate further details regarding the implementation process once the necessary assessments have been completed. All political parties and stakeholders are urged to cooperate with the Commission during this period.

“The Commission reassures the public that preparations for the 4 November 2026 Local Government Elections remain a priority. It will continue to discharge its constitutional mandate independently, impartially and in accordance with the law,” Bapela said.

Meanwhile, elections analyst, Michael Atkins told the SABC that he was surprised but not shocked by the Constitutional Court’s ruling.

“It was quite clear that the ANC pointed out very calmly that the wording and regulations of the Act was not entirely clear and in my view the IEC didn’t argue the case as crisply as they might have done,” he said.

“Although I believe that the ANC’s interpretation in the end in my own view was not correct, but the case was reasonable. For me the bottom line is that those regulations need to be amended because the system works the way it should work but if the regulations of the law doesn’t spell it out then the law is what counts. It isn’t what a user manual counts,” he added.

ANC VS IEC | Elections analyst Michael Atkins says he is surprised by the Constitutional Court's ruling, arguing that the regulations may need to be amended. He adds that the IEC could have presented its case more persuasively. pic.twitter.com/I27DzYJpoy

— SABC News (@SABCNews) October 15, 2026

OVER 2000 CANDIDATES MISSED DEADLINE

On 2 September, the IEC revealed that cumulatively, there are 2 274 candidates who were captured but not finally submitted on the Online Candidate Nomination System by the set deadline.

Political parties and independent candidates intending to contest the upcoming elections had until 17:00 on Friday, 28 August, to submit their candidate nominations.

“This phenomenon affects 480 PR and 1 794 ward potential candidates. The unique number of political parties in this situation is 45. The Commission’s position is that, in practical terms, these potential candidates have not been submitted to the Commission and therefore are not in contention for this election,” the IEC said at the time.