ConCourt to hand down judgment on constitutionality of Electoral Act

The Constitutional Court will on Thursday hand down a judgment on the constitutionality of the Electoral Act which does not permit eligible South Africans to be elected to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures as independent candidates.

The judgment is expected to be handed down at 10am, with the attendance to court limited to 20 people.

In 2019, the New Nation Movement (NNM) NPC and others filed with the Constitutional Court an urgent application for leave to appeal a Western Cape High Court decision.

On 17 September 2018, the applicants had approached the high court seeking an order declaring section 57A and Schedule 1A to the Electoral Act unconstitutional because they prevent independent candidates from standing for election to the National Assembly and provincial legislatures.

The high court, however, dismissed the application, stating that the applicants may establish a political party through which they can stand for election to the provincial and national legislatures.

This prompted the applicants to approach the Constitutional Court which concluded that the applicants had failed to make out a case for an urgent hearing and the matter was set for 15 August 2019.

A spokesperson of the NNM NPC told members of the media in 2019 that the matter between the organisation and others versus the president and others was argued in the Western Cape High Court on 27 March 2019, while judgment was handed down on 17 April 2019.

Following the dismissal of the case, the NNM NPC approached the Constitutional Court to appeal the high court judgment and seek relief on an urgent basis.

The president of South Africa is listed as the first respondent in the matter, while the minister of home affairs, Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, the speaker of National Assembly and National Council provinces are listed as second, third, fourth and fifth respondents respectively.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.