LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: Ramaphosa defends ANC’s late election candidate lists as party considers court action

Cheering ANC supporters welcomed Cyril Ramaphosa in Tembisa, but residents also confronted the president with unemployment, crime and the rising cost of living. The campaign visit came as the party faced a crisis that could exclude nearly 200 of its candidates from South Africa’s November local government elections.

The ANC missed the Electoral Commission’s August 28 deadline to finalise hundreds of councillor nominations in municipalities in the Eastern Cape and Free State. The party blamed technical glitches during the electronic submission process. The IEC rejected that explanation, saying its platform operated as designed and had been available to political parties since June.

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There were some glitches, glitches with regards to just the interface with the IEC system.

The commission said about 2,300 candidates from 45 political parties had been entered into the system but not finally submitted before the 5 p.m. deadline. Those candidates could not be accepted under the electoral process. The ANC’s affected candidates include ward and proportional-representation nominees in Mangaung and Lejweleputswa in the Free State, uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal, and Port St Johns, Ingquza Hill and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape.

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The candidates list was there for the whole country. They were submitted and in regard to those areas, there were some glitches.

Ramaphosa maintained that the ANC had submitted its lists nationally, but encountered problems with the system interface in specific areas. “There were some glitches, glitches with regards to just the interface with the IEC system,” he said. He argued that the problem should not prevent voters from choosing ANC candidates and said he expected a solution.

The dispute has created internal tensions and prompted the party to consider several options, including talks with the IEC, its Political Party Liaison Committee and possible court action. The ANC says other parties were also affected, while the commission has indicated it will not accommodate late submissions.

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So there should be a solution to be found because the technical glitches should not in the end deprive our people from being able to vote for their candidates and I’m certain that a solution will be found.