ANC candidate list row | Analyst warns against setting new precedent

ANC candidate list row | Analyst warns against setting new precedent bombeleni_temp Wed, 09/09/2026 - 08:30

JOHANNESBURG - The Electoral Court should be guided by precedent when considering the ANC’s challenge to the IEC’s decision to reject some of its candidate nominations, says elections analyst Wayne Sussman.

Sussman says other political parties have previously missed candidate-list deadlines and were not given an opportunity to correct their errors.

He believes the ANC should face the same consequences.

The ANC has approached the Electoral Court to challenge the Independent Electoral Commission’s decision ahead of the Local Government Elections on 4 November.

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ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula says the decision will affect 181 of the party’s candidates. He says the ANC is not the only party affected, with 44 other parties also having candidates impacted.

The ANC’s affected candidates are in two municipalities in the Free State, one in KwaZulu-Natal and four in the Eastern Cape.

Mbalula insists the party’s mayoral candidates are all on the lists.

**READ: **ANC files court papers over missed candidate deadline

“Those who are not, and are nominated by the top seven, will be included on the list,” he said.

“So, there is no crisis.”

Mbalula says elections are won and lost at the ballot box, rather than through confirmation on the IEC’s website.

But Sussman points to previous cases where parties missed deadlines.

**READ: **ANC: We're not seeking preferential treatment over candidate lists

In 2016, the National Freedom Party missed its registration deadline in a KwaZulu-Natal municipality, with significant consequences for the party.

In 2021, the Democratic Alliance faced a similar problem during a by-election in Ward 56 in Cape Town.

“In all of these cases, the IEC was not able to amend party errors and meant that in places where they would have done reasonably well, they were excluded from the ballot,” Sussman said.

“The IEC cannot have one standard for one party and different standards for others.”

**READ: **IEC officials have nothing to worry about – elections analyst

The ANC maintains that its circumstances are different, arguing that it successfully submitted 95 percent of its candidate lists.

Sussman says allowing the ANC to submit the outstanding lists could have consequences beyond the current dispute.

He says it could create a new precedent that other parties may rely on when they miss future electoral deadlines.