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Electoral law – Local government elections – Electronic nomination of candidates through Electoral Commission Online Candidate Nomination System (OCNS) – interpretation of s 14 and s 17 of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act 27 of 2000, read with regulations 4(3) and 11(2) of the Municipal Electoral Regulations, 2000 – whether uploading candidate information and supporting documents, without clicking “submit as final”, constitutes a valid submission of nominations – whether the Electoral Commission made an appealable decision under s 20(2)(a) of the Electoral Commission Act 51 of 1996 – Electoral Commission's determination that nominations for which “submit as final” was not clicked were invalid held to involve the interpretation of electoral legislation and, therefore, to constitute an appealable decision – Proper interpretation of the statutory and regulatory framework requiring the electronic submission of nominations in the prescribed manner – “Submit as final” functionality forming part of the prescribed electronic nomination process – uploaded nominations remaining provisional until final submission – failure to click “submit as final” before the statutory timeline constituting non-compliance with mandatory nomination requirements –Electoral requirements designed to promote certainty and the equal treatment of participants requiring compliance with the prescribed nomination process. Distinction drawn between participation-enhancing approach in African Christian Democratic Party v Electoral Commission and subsequent jurisprudence emphasising certainty, equality of treatment and strict compliance with electoral requirements – Consequence of non-compliance following by operation of law – Electoral Commission correctly excluding the affected candidates from the certified candidate lists – appeal dismissed – Democratic Alliance granted leave to intervene – African Transformation Movement's intervention application held not to be properly before the Court owing to non-compliance with court directives, inordinate delay and absence of an application for condonation – no order as to costs, in accordance with the principles applicable to electoral litigation.