The Electoral Court has delivered a blow to the ANC ahead of the November 4 local government elections, after it dismissed the party’s appeal against the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC's) rejection of 181 of the ANC’s candidate nominations, across six municipalities.

The ANC argued that it had met the August 28 deadline to submit these and all its other candidates on the IEC’s Online Candidate Nomination System but cited “technical failures” that had allegedly blocked final confirmation of the 181 nominations in question.

The party has stated that it did not ask the Commission to condone late nominations, but only sought the inclusion of names that were already on the system by the 17:00 deadline, with no amendments or reordering of any lists.

However, the Electoral Court ruled against the ANC’s argument on Wednesday, which the party says it will appeal.

Following the ruling, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said the party’s legal team will engage the court on questions from the judgment.

She further stressed that the party respected the court and the judicial process and urged ANC members to “remain calm and disciplined” and not issue public statements as the legal process is ongoing.

“We have consistently maintained that this matter is not about seeking preferential treatment for the ANC, nor about asking the Electoral Commission to change the rules for the benefit of our organisation. It concerns the legal status of candidate information that the ANC maintains was captured into the IEC's electronic system before the prescribed deadline,” she reiterated.

Meanwhile, ANC Government of National Unity partner the DA welcomed the court ruling, adding that “deadlines are deadlines”.

The DA said the ruling was good for the fairness of elections and political party equality.

“The ANC is facing mounting internal and external pressure about this major operational failure, and the court case it brought lacked merit and substance, and appears to be more of a PR exercise than a legal one. The candidate submission process is now complete. All parties’ candidates are final and will be published by the IEC later today,” it said.