ANC’s election court victory opens door for 32 other parties as IEC races against ballot deadline

A dispute over an unclicked submission button has grown into a nationwide electoral challenge, with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) now having to accommodate 32 additional political parties following the ANC’s Constitutional Court victory.

The commission announced on Friday, 16 October 2026, that parties which had met candidate nomination requirements but failed to finalise their electronic submissions would receive the same treatment as the ANC.

The decision follows Thursday’s Constitutional Court ruling ordering the IEC to reinstate 181 ANC candidates across six municipalities after the party successfully challenged their exclusion from the 4 November local government elections.

The ruling has wider implications for the electoral process, with the IEC confirming that its decision to extend relief to similarly affected parties will impact 107 municipalities and require accelerated preparations ahead of election day.

How an unclicked button reached the Constitutional Court

The dispute began after the ANC failed to complete the final step of submitting candidate lists through the IEC’s online nomination system before the 28 August deadline.

Although the party had uploaded its candidate information and paid the required deposits, it had not clicked the system’s “Submit as Final” button for six municipalities.

The affected municipalities were Mangaung in the Free State, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal, and Walter Sisulu, Sundays River Valley, Ngquza Hill and Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape.

The ANC argued that technical problems with the IEC’s system had prevented it from completing the process. The commission disputed this explanation, maintaining that its system had functioned correctly and that the party had failed to comply with the deadline.

The Electoral Court initially ruled against the ANC in September, effectively excluding its affected candidates.

However, the ANC approached the Constitutional Court, arguing that the final electronic submission step was not itself a requirement expressly prescribed by electoral legislation.

During proceedings, the IEC defended its nomination procedures, while the Democratic Alliance (DA), which opposed the ANC’s application, warned that granting relief to one party could require similar treatment for thousands of other candidates.

On 15 October, the Constitutional Court upheld the ANC’s appeal and directed the IEC to include the affected candidates. The court indicated that reasons for its majority decision would follow.

Why 32 other parties are now benefiting

The Constitutional Court’s order concerned the ANC, but its implications extended beyond the governing party.

The IEC subsequently reviewed other parties whose nominations had been captured on its system without being finally submitted.

Following compliance checks, it identified 32 parties that had nominated eligible candidates and paid the required deposits but had not completed the final submission process.

These parties had intended to contest elections in 121 municipalities, involving metropolitan, local and district ballots.

The commission decided that excluding them while allowing the ANC to participate would conflict with the principle of equal treatment.

However, 13 other parties failed the IEC’s compliance checks, including requirements relating to election deposits and voter registration in the municipalities where candidates intended to contest.

The IEC has therefore limited the additional relief to the 32 qualifying parties.

The decision follows concerns raised during the Constitutional Court proceedings about the wider consequences of granting the ANC relief. The DA’s legal representative had warned that other parties in equivalent circumstances would also need to be considered to preserve electoral fairness.

Millions of ballot papers and a shrinking timetable

The consequences are not limited to candidate registration.

According to the IEC’s latest statement, the extension affects 107 municipalities, with 33 million ballot papers required for the affected electoral processes.

Of those, 27 million have already been printed, while approximately 6.6 million remain outstanding.

The commission said it had deliberately withheld printing ballots for the six municipalities involved in the ANC’s court case until judgment was delivered, avoiding printing expenditure on those ballots.

However, it has not provided a detailed breakdown of any additional costs arising from the wider decision or clarified whether previously printed ballots will require replacement.

The pressure comes at a particularly sensitive stage of election preparations.

On 15 October, government news service SAnews reported that the IEC had already printed more than 66% of the approximately 79 million ballot papers required nationally, with production previously expected to conclude by 18 October.

The latest developments have introduced additional administrative work into an already advanced electoral timetable.

Election date remains unchanged

Despite the complications, the IEC says it does not anticipate postponing the 4 November elections.

The commission will contact the 32 qualifying parties to establish whether they still intend to contest.

Those confirming their participation will be allowed to complete outstanding nomination requirements and, where necessary, supplement or substitute candidate names.

The process will be accelerated and limited to the ANC and the 32 other qualifying parties.

The IEC acknowledged that its logistical operations have been significantly affected and must now be completed within a shortened period.

Special voting is scheduled for 2 and 3 November, followed by the general local government elections on 4 November.

For the affected political parties, the decision restores an opportunity to contest elections that had appeared lost after the nomination deadline.

For the IEC, it creates the challenge of accommodating those parties while maintaining the integrity of an election already approaching its final preparation stages.

The commission has maintained that the decision is necessary to ensure consistent treatment of electoral contestants and uphold its constitutional responsibility to deliver free and fair elections.