The Constitutional Court dismissed the DA’s application to declare the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) decision to reopen candidate registrations unlawful and invalid.

As a result, the ruling party which failed to register candidates in 93 municipalities after it didn’t meet the initial deadline, will have the opportunity to participate in the elections in these municipalities.

The DA filed an application against the IEC’s decision to reopen candidate lists for the local government elections after the ANC missed its deadline, allegedly due to technical glitches.

The DA’s application was supported by Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the South African Institute of Race Relations. However, the application was opposed by the Commission, the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the ANC and Freedom Under Law, who all contended for the dismissal of the application.

According to the IEC, the ACDP, COPE, FF PLUS and UDM supported extending the deadline.

“Certain parties failed to meet the candidate cut-off date of 23 August 2021. Notably, the ANC failed timeously to submit its party lists and ward candidate nominations in respect of 20 municipalities and 598 wards.

In 13 of these municipalities, the ANC has comfortable majorities in the municipal councils, and has enjoyed these majorities in 11 of them for many years,” reads Monday’s judgement.

The local government polls are scheduled to take place on the 1^st of November in what is expected to be one of the hotly contested elections since the dawn of democracy. This weekend saw ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, EFF Julius Malema and the DA’s John Steenhuisen crisscross several municipalities in trying to woo votes.