The Constitutional Court has dismissed a challenge to the Electoral Amendment Act from the non-profit organization Rivonia Circle and Mmusi Maimane’s Build One South Africa party.
The challenge aimed at provisions around the submission of candidate lists ahead of elections on 29 May.
They are also challenging the signature requirements for parties not represented in the National Assembly.
This means political parties will now have to meet around 15% of the quota for a specific region as obtained in the last election, and not the 1,000 like independent candidates, as they had hoped.
In the ruling, which was handed down on Monday, the Constitutional Court found that it was not in the interest of justice to entertain the application – which was brought on an urgent basis in December.
The court highlighted that the Electoral Amendment Act was enacted eight months prior – in April – and said the applicants had failed to show any justification for why they did not go to court earlier.
It said with the president now having proclaimed an election date, the court risked causing “disruptions and uncertainty” in the preparations if it entertained the application.
A dissenting ruling, however, found that the court should have heard the application because of the important fundamental rights that were implicated.
-EWN
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