Tselane outlines IEC timetable rules, as ANC heads to court

Former Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Terry Tselane says the Electoral Commission can only change its timetable under specific conditions.

His remarks come as the African National Congress (ANC) approaches the Electoral Court to challenge the commission’s decision not to register the party’s candidates in some municipalities.

The party says technical challenges in the IEC’s candidate submission system prevented it from registering some candidates.

The commission has rejected this.

Tselane explains the grounds that would warrant amending the commission’s timeframe.

He says, “In 2021, the IEC was able to amend the election timetable in order to allow the parties that had missed the deadline to resubmit. And the Constitutional Court said that it was within the rights of the IEC to do so. But they emphasised two grounds upon which this can be done…”

“The first one, they said, is only in the interest of free and fair elections. In other words, if the Commission feels that in the interest of free and fair elections, there is a need to amend the election timetable, then they can do so. The second ground was in the event that the election day has been postponed,” Tselane says.