IEC calls DA litigation 'opportunistic and meritless' - TimesLIVE

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has hit back at the DA’s legal charge against four parties that submitted a single name in the candidate lists for the November local government elections.

According to the DA, the move by ActionSA, the EFF, the GOOD Party and the MK Party is a deliberate stunt to “hide candidate choices from voters”, adding this is to allegedly manipulate legal provisions to supplement lists after votes are counted.

The IEC opposed the challenge, warning the relief requested would be highly disruptive and could put the integrity of the polls at risk.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo, in his responding affidavit, said the commission did not agree with the reopening of nominations for the four parties and the direction that it determines whether new lists were submitted in good faith.

“It submits those political ‘motives’, whatever they may be, are legally irrelevant to the validity of the lists.

“The commission’s position is based on a single consideration. The Electoral Act and the Structures Act prescribe objective requirements which the commission must apply to every party in the same way.”

The commission argued the DA’s case is “without merit in law”.

“Many of the arguments made by the DA are factually opportunistic and legally specious.”

The commission called into question the timing of the application at the Electoral Court, warning of its potential to disrupt the IEC’s timeline leading up to the November 4 contests.

“What is more, the application was brought on September 21 2026, weeks before voting day, after nominations had closed and the lists had been certified, against a practice that parties, including the DA, have followed openly in successive local government elections. The relief it seeks would be seriously disruptive and would put the integrity of the elections at risk.”

Mamabolo said the commission has no power to enquire into the motives of a party that complies with the requirements, and the scheme does not permit it to treat one party differently from another on that basis.

“The DA’s complaint is therefore not that the lists fail to comply with the act, but that the four parties submitted them for the wrong reason. That is not a question the act permits the commission to ask.”

The IEC chief insisted the commission does not support either side in the dispute between the DA and the four parties.

“It delivers this affidavit to explain how it has applied, and will apply the statutory scheme to answer the allegation that it erred in certifying the lists, and to place before the court the facts it will need in deciding what relief is competent and workable.”