IEC ‘wrong for not publishing BLF registration as a political party’

The Freedom Front Plus approached the High Court in Johannesburg to have BLF deregistered before the May 8 election.

FF Plus MP Wouter Wessels says the court ruled that the IEC decision to not publish BLF's registration was wrong, which means the stipulated 30-day period for parties to oppose registration went unnoticed.

"We argue that because the Chief Electoral Officer failed to publish or gazette the decision he made to register the BLF that time never started. The court ruled that they should now publish and that the 30 days to now appeal the decision to register the political part will only then commence."

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Wessels says the ruling complicates the situation as elections are a week away.

"It makes it very complicated because of the fact that we are a week before the elections, but we are now considering what steps to take and we feel that the commission must now rectify the mistakes it made and it should rectify this and the ball is their court."

He says they will be speaking with the legal team to map a way forward.

"We are studying the judgement and we are consulting with our legal team and we will then decide what steps to take,"

Monday’s ruling means the BLF will be allowed to contest the elections until the IEC reviews its decision to allow the FF Plus the opportunity to oppose the BLF’s registration.