ActionSA loses as court rules in favour of IEC over ballot paper omission

ActionSA has suffered defeat after the Electoral Court dismissed its application relating to the absence of its name on the ballot paper for the local government elections.

This comes a day after the court reserved its judgment in the matter on Thursday.

‘Disappointed’

Reacting to the ruling, ActionSA said it was disappointed with the outcome.

“ActionSA has received the disappointing news that the Electoral Court has found against our application. Given the urgent nature of the application, the Electoral Court will only provide written reasons at a later date.

“While we are disappointed by the outcome, ActionSA is dedicated to the rule of law and we respect the outcome of the court and the experience of the jurists who presided over our matter,” ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

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ActionSA had lodged urgent papers with the court earlier this month in an effort to set aside the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC’s) decision to exclude its name from the ballot paper for the local government elections.

Now with this outcome, it means ActionSA will only be identifiable through its logo and ward candidates’ names on the ballot papers.

Omission

Earlier, before taking legal action against the IEC, the party had given the commission a chance to correct the ballot list.

However, the IEC said it was unlikely it would be able to add the names of political parties that were omitted from the ballot paper.

The commission said it was unlikely to change this because the parties had elected not to register an abbreviated name or acronym when they registered their political parties.

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It also rejected claims it was not acting impartially, saying the allegations were “without foundation and mischievous”.

The IEC presented final draft ballot papers for wards in Gauteng a week ago, but ActionSA’s name was not on the list, although the party’s logo does appear.

The local elections are set to take place on 1 November.