MKP bid to challenge results lacks 'admissible evidence', IEC tells Electoral Court
The Independent Electoral Commission says the uMkhonto weSizwe Party has failed to produce any credible or admissible evidence to support its vote-rigging claims.
The commission submitted an answering affidavit to the Electoral Court, signed by the chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo.
It was responding to an application by the MK party challenging the validity of the 2024 general election results.
The IEC has asked the Electoral Court to dismiss the MK party’s application, which it says failed to comply with Section 55 of the Electoral Act.
The act states that appeals against election results must be made within three days of the declaration of the results.
MK only filed their appeal two weeks later without providing any reasons for the delay.
"The applicant's letter of 31 May 2024 is not an objection under section 55 that is subject to appeal under section 55(5) of the Electoral Act,”
it told the court.
“It did not comply with the prescribed requirements for an objection, as set out in regulation 31 of the Election Regulations.
“These include, amongst others, that the details of the objection and reasons for the objection be contained in the form of a sworn statement or affidavit.
"There is no other procedure for dealing with the results of an election. The applicant has not followed the section 55 procedure.
“Instead, it has sought to avoid the consequences of its failure to follow the statute by dressing up the current challenge as a ‘review’. But there is no competent review in relation to the declaration of results. The process is as spelt out above: results-objections-appeal.”
The MK party claims that over 9.3 million votes were unaccounted for.
However, the IEC says the MK party misrepresented the actual election data and results - and asked the court to dismiss the application with costs.
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