Court dismisses Labour Party bid to force IEC deadline extension
Parties seeking to contest the upcoming general elections are expected to submit their candidate list and the required signatures to make it onto the ballot by close of business this afternoon.
On Thursday, the newly formed party, which has its roots in labour union Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, lagged what it called a cumbersome logistical process to collect and upload nearly 60,000 endorsement signatures for newcomer parties.
READ MORE: Labour Party heads to court over ‘cumbersome’ IEC requirements
The party’s Krister Janse van Rensburg said, unlike in the case of the Constitutional Court challenge by Build One SA and the Rivonia Circle, which sought to challenge the Electoral Amendment Act on the submission of candidate lists and signature requirements for parties not represented in the National Assembly, they were rather challenging the practicality of the requirements.
The Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Shiburi says that while this will have little impact on preparations for the May 29 polls, there are some concerns.
“Our only concern is that if there is a litany of court challenges, they have the potential of impacting negatively on the psyche of the voting public. But we respect the rights of people who feel aggrieved to ventilate their rights via the courts so that the court can bring finality to the matter.”
Speaking at the press briefing to announce the court challenge, Janse van Rensburg denied they had failed to reach the required signature threshold.
“Our issue is not with the number of signatures. You must know we’re a big movement. Our problem is with the deadline and the administrative burden.”
He said the capturing system had not been tested in a poll of this magnitude and could be vulnerable to technical failures.
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