FILE PHOTO: DA leader John Steenhuisen addressing the Cape Town Press Club on “The path to building a new majority”. PICTURE: The South African
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JOHANNESBURG: The DA had earlier accused the IEC of favouring the ANC by reopening the nomination process.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) accepts the Constitutional Court’s judgement on the reopening of candidate lists ahead of the upcoming local government elections.
The Constitutional Court ruled against the official opposition after it filed papers challenging the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) decision to reopen the process.
During its paper submission, the opposition party accused the IEC of favouring the African National Congress (ANC) by reopening the nomination process.
The ANC was thrown a lifeline when the IEC reopened the candidate registration list for parties that missed the deadline to register some of its candidates in various regions.
The ANC had failed to submit its candidate list on time in over 93 municipalities across the country were affected.
DA leader, Mr John Steeunhuisen said the party had put forward a strong case.
“We note that the Constitutional Court did not draw a final conclusion on whether IEC had an ulterior motive when reopening the candidate nomination process. So they couldn’t draw a conclusion on the basis of the papers before the court.
“What they have done is left the door open for us to challenge the decision at a later stage should we be able to provide further evidence of the IEC’s favouring of the African National Congress,” he said.
Mr Steeunhuisen added that the party will keep a close eye on the IEC during the elections come 1 November 2021.
“We find that highly suspicious and we will be monitoring the IEC incredibly carefully to make sure they hold these elections in a free and fair manner, in a way that does not favour any particular party and all parties are treated the same,” Mr Steeunhuisen stressed out.
