The Labor Party has announced that it will launch an application to the Constitutional Court seeking a change to the election date and a postponement of the May 29 election. On Monday, the Electoral Court rejected the party's application to reconsider the Electoral Commission (IEC)'s decision not to reopen the portal for submissions.
The deadline for submitting a list of candidates was March 8th. However, some parties claim that they were unable to meet the deadline due to glitches in the IEC's online portal.
The party says it will seek intervention from the Supreme Court to challenge the majority decision of the specialized court. It says that political parties that cannot participate in the May vote will be prejudiced, and that excluding political parties is not in the interest of free and fair elections.
The new political organization will also depend on a minority ruling by the Electoral Court granting the relief sought by Labor, the African Congress for Transformation and the African Social Democratic Alliance.
Additional tribunal members Professor Moses Pouko and Acting Judge AJ Shongwe said other means were available to submit a list of party candidates to accommodate unforeseen circumstances such as the current one. He expressed the opinion that it may have been.
Furthermore, the mere fact that 87 political parties and 24 independent candidates were able to timely upload their information as opposed to applicants could be used to disenfranchise potential candidates. It added that complaints made by applicants cannot simply be dismissed as their fault.
2024 Election | Election Court vs. Aggrieved Party
