2021 Election shock: How many municipalities won’t have an ANC candidate?

The ANC has really fluffed its lines, here. After failing to meet the IEC deadline to submit all of its preferred candidates for the 2021 Elections, the ruling party could be left short when it comes to contesting certain municipalities.

How many municipalities will not have an ANC candidate for the 2021 Elections?

The unprecedented snag has drawn the ire of the party’s Deputy Secretary-General, Jessie Duarte. She addressed the media on Thursday, confirming that the ANC would be challenging the outcomes in court. The main argument is that technical issues on deadline day held up their final registrations – but no other party has made this complaint.

As it stands, around 13% of all municipalities in South Africa could fail to host an ANC candidate. That’s more than ONE IN EIGHT regions, and should the courts rule against the governing party, a significant chunk of their voter share will be lost.

Yesterday, Jessie Duarte said that the ANC was unable to register candidates in 30 municipalities. But it’s understood this figure has risen to 35. The 109-year-old organisation has blamed COVID-19 lockdowns and strict regulations for preventing them from getting everything over the line in time.

@MYANC statement on candidate registration and the electoral court. pic.twitter.com/2BMlxTWZnx

— African National Congress (@MYANC) August 26, 2021

IEC deadline ‘was to benefit ruling party’ – Malema

The ANC will be hoping to find some mercy from the judiciary – but they are highly unlikely to encounter it across Parliamentary benches. EFF leader Julius Malema believes that the ANC was actually treated favourably by the IEC, after they initially extended their registration deadline from 17:00 to 21:00.

“It’s a fact, the system was still open at 21:00 – and the only party who had problems with the registration was the ANC. The IEC’s extension of the cut-off time for registration was purely to favour the ANC and shield them from not submitting councillor candidates; even with that, the incompetent ANC failed to submit.”

Julius Malema on the ANC’s registration troubles