JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's African National Congress (ANC), the country's largest party in the governing coalition, said Sunday that all 181 of its previously excluded candidates will appear on the ballot in six municipalities in the country's Nov. 4 local government elections.
The ANC said in a statement that Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo confirmed in a letter on Sunday that verification of the candidates had been completed and that the ballots to be printed would include the ANC candidates, in accordance with a Constitutional Court judgment issued on Thursday.
The candidates comprise 51 ward candidates and 130 proportional representation candidates in Ngquza Hill, Port St Johns, Walter Sisulu and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape Province, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal Province, and Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality in the Free State Province.
"As the names were already with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), the IEC has simply accepted them as they are in its system, without the need for the ANC to act or do anything," said ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.
The IEC had initially rejected the ANC's nominations after the party uploaded the required candidate information but failed to complete the final online submission step before the Aug. 28 deadline. The ANC challenged the decision after the Electoral Court upheld the IEC's position on Sept. 16.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court overturned the Electoral Court ruling and directed the IEC to take the necessary steps to include the 181 candidates in the electoral process.
The ruling prompted the IEC to extend similar relief to 32 other political parties that were found to have been in circumstances comparable to those of the ANC. The commission on Friday said it would allow the affected parties to complete their candidate nominations, citing the need for equal treatment following the Constitutional Court's decision.
A total of 10,526 council seats will be contested in the Nov. 4 elections. The IEC previously certified 136,790 candidates for the polls, which will be held across eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district municipalities and 205 local municipalities. ■
