ConCourt allows 181 ANC candidates to contest elections

Staff Writer / Thurs, 15 October 2026

The Constitutional Court has ruled that 181 ANC councillor candidates who were excluded from next month’s municipal elections may contest the polls.

The court on Thursday upheld the ANC’s appeal against an Electoral Court ruling that supported the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) decision to reject the candidates’ nominations in six municipalities.

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The IEC rejected the nominations after the ANC failed to click the “submit as final” button on its online system before the 5pm deadline on 28 August. The party had uploaded the candidates’ details and paid the required deposits.

The affected municipalities are Port St Johns, Ngquza Hill, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape, Mangaung in the Free State and uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal.

The exclusions left the ANC without candidates in Port St Johns and Ngquza Hill.

During Monday’s hearing, the ANC argued that the final submission button was a software requirement rather than a legal requirement.

The IEC maintained that its system had no glitches and that political parties were responsible for submitting their nominations before the deadline.

The commission also argued that allowing late submissions would require it to make exceptions for individual parties.

The Democratic Alliance opposed the ANC’s appeal and supported the IEC’s decision.

The ruling clears the way for the affected ANC candidates to contest the municipal elections scheduled for 4 November.

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