Concourt to rule on voters’ roll issue
JOBURG – Court to rule on the much-awaited judgement that will give direction on upcoming local government elections.
The Constitutional Court is expected to rule on the matter of what information needs to be on the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) voters’ roll.
The ruling comes after a long legal battle between the IEC and the independent candidates who actually brought up the matter with the Electoral Court. The legal battle dates back to 2013 when independent candidates accused the commission of gross misconduct and alleged that some voters had to vote in a by-election for a ward that they did not reside in.
The Electoral Court ruled in favour of the independent candidates and ruled that the IEC should have full addresses of all registered voters on the voters’ roll. The commission then filed an application with the Constitutional Court to set aside the Electoral Court, citing that it could see a lot of voters disqualified from voting. The commission also said it needed the court to clearly specify what information about voters needed to be on the voters’ roll.
The outcome of the judgement could impact the upcoming local government elections. The commission already said that if full addresses of all voters must be on their voters’ roll, they will not be able to do so by 3 August.
It added that it would take them four years to get all the information needed.
