The Electoral Commission (IEC) said 32 political parties will get the same relief the Constitutional Court gave the ANC over its candidate lists for the 2026 Local Government Elections.
IEC Chairperson Mosotho Moepya announced the decision at a media briefing in Pretoria on Friday, according to SAnews. The briefing dealt with the court judgment and what it means for the Commission.
“Consistent with the constitutional imperative for free and fair elections as well as the importance of upholding the inherent principle of parity of treatment, the Commission has resolved that the 32 similarly situated parties must be deemed to have lawfully submitted their candidates,” Moepya said.
The Constitutional Court ordered the Commission to include 181 ANC candidates in six municipalities. According to the IEC, these are 51 ward candidates and 130 proportional representation candidates.
Moepya said it would be “irrational and offensive to the principle of parity of treatment” to leave out parties in the same position as the ANC. He said the Commission has a duty under the Constitution to treat all contestants evenly.
According to Moepya, the 32 parties planned to contest in 121 municipalities across the country. He said they wanted to take part on all three ballot types, which are metro, local and district.
“As with the ANC, these parties had nominated compliant candidates and paid election deposits but had not submitted their final candidate lists,” he said.
The Commission said it found the 32 parties after running compliance checks. It said 13 other parties did not meet the rules, even after the court order was extended to cover more parties.
Moepya said those 13 parties fell short for reasons that included unpaid election deposits. Some also failed the rule that a candidate must be registered on the voters’ roll in the municipality being contested.
The IEC said the court order covers all parties in a similar position to the ANC and affects 107 municipalities.
According to the Commission, it now needs 33 million ballots. It said 27 million had already been printed, while 6.6 million had not.
Moepya said the unprinted ballots are for the six municipalities linked to the ANC’s appeal. “The Commission held back from commencing the printing of the ballots until the Constitutional Court had made a ruling on the matter. In other words, no costs were incurred in relation to ballots affecting these six municipalities,” he said.
The IEC said it will contact all 32 parties to check if they still want to take part in the elections. Parties that do will get a chance to meet the candidate nomination rules.
Moepya said parties may also add or swap candidate names where a person appears on more than one list. Candidates will then receive their candidature certificates in a shortened process for the 33 parties involved.
Moepya said the Commission did not expect the changes to affect the election date. He said logistics will now have to be done within a very short period.
The Local Government Elections are set for 4 November.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SAnews.gov.za. Image: GCIS via SAnews.gov.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.