The African National Congress (ANC) is escalating its dispute with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) over candidate nominations ahead of the November local government elections.
The ANC says it is considering approaching the Electoral Court after some of its candidate lists were not successfully submitted before the 28 August deadline, which the party blames on technical problems with the IEC’s online nomination system.
The dispute affects candidates in several municipalities, including areas in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State. The party maintains that most of its candidates were submitted on time, but that a final batch was affected by problems with the system.
The IEC has rejected the ANC’s version of events, saying its online candidate nomination system remained operational until the 5pm deadline. The commission has also maintained that it will not reopen the system or provide additional time to any political party.
The commission says 2,274 potential candidates from 45 parties had been captured on the system by the deadline but were not formally submitted. This includes 480 proportional-representation candidates and 1,794 ward candidates.
The IEC is expected to publish the final candidate lists on 16 September, ahead of the local government elections scheduled for 4 November 2026.
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