Cape poll at risk - IEC

2006-02-25 07:56

Johannesburg - Friday's Constitutional Court ruling that the African Christian Democratic Party may take part in next Wednesday's municipal poll in Cape Town would create significant difficulties for the Independent Electoral Commission and place the election at risk.

This was the reaction of the commission's Chief Electoral Officer, Pansy Tlakula's, to the ruling.

The IEC now had to print and verify 3 050 200 new ballot papers and distribute them to 758 presiding officers.

The ACDP's Steve Swart said they were ecstatic about the ruling.

"We are thankful to the Constitutional Court. We have learnt a lesson and will be putting mechanisms in place to ensure this never happens again."

Tlakula said after the ruling the IEC had already set in motion preparations to include the ACDP on the ballot papers for the Cape Metro.

Said Tlakula: "The IEC is doing everything in its power to ensure that this process is completed in time for the elections.

"We, however, wish to state as we have in our affidavit that although this order will not render the holding of elections impossible, it will create significant difficulties for the Commission and will place the elections at risk."

In a dissenting judgment, the Concourt's Justice Skweyiya said he did not agree with the judgment.

He found that no payment was made to the IEC in respect of the Cape Town Metropolitan before the cut-off date for registration. Therefore, he said the party had not complied with the rules.

The problem started when the party mistakenly left Cape Town off its list and did not make the required deposit when it was registering to contest the election.

- SAPA