Cape Town’s ballot crisis: ConCourt ruling forces IEC to reprint 33 million ballots

IEC

Cape Town – The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has been forced to accelerate the distribution of election ballot papers after delays in printing and delivering replacement ballots left some voting stations in Cape Town unable to open on time during the first day of special voting.

The delays follow a Constitutional Court ruling that allowed the African National Congress (ANC) to reinstate 181 candidates who had initially been excluded from contesting the 4 November 2026 local government elections.

According to The Citizen, IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Shiburi confirmed on Monday that the delays were directly linked to the court ruling, which prompted the commission to accommodate additional political parties and candidates on the ballot papers.

Shiburi said the IEC had initially planned to have all ballots in storage facilities by 21 October. However, after the Constitutional Court handed down its ruling on 15 October, the commission extended the relief to 32 other political parties in similar circumstances to the ANC.

“The Commission, in the interest of free and fair elections, administered or admitted other parties and their candidates; there were in total 32 other such parties,” Shiburi said, explaining the decision to accommodate the additional contestants.

The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s directive requiring the IEC to include 181 ANC candidates – 51 ward candidates and 130 proportional representation candidates – across six municipalities. The commission subsequently extended the same relief to 32 other political parties that had also missed the final candidate-list submission deadline but had met the other requirements.

In an earlier report, SABC News reported that the ruling increased the IEC’s ballot-printing requirements to 33 million. Of these, approximately 27 million had already been printed, while a further 6.6 million still needed to be produced.

The IEC’s decision to extend the relief was based on the constitutional requirement for equal treatment of political parties. According to the commission, excluding parties in circumstances similar to the ANC would undermine the principle of fairness in the electoral process.

The South African Government News Agency (SAnews) reported that 32 additional parties intended to contest in 121 municipalities, while 13 other parties were excluded after failing to meet requirements, including payment of election deposits and voter registration conditions.

Shiburi said the commission had authorised the reprinting of ballots, explaining that 28 million ballots already printed and delivered were no longer suitable because they did not include all the participating parties.

“The commission authorised the re-printing of ballots, so we had to re-print in total 33 million ballots. So, the City of Cape Town ballots are those that were in the final run of the printing process,” he said.

Distribution challenges

Shiburi confirmed that the printing process was completed on Sunday, but packaging and distribution remained a challenge.

“What we are struggling with is the packaging of those ballots so that they contain all the security features that must be on the ballot, that they are numbered appropriately, that they are stitched into books of 100 booklets,” he said.

He added that all outstanding Cape Town ballots had reached the IEC’s decentralised storage facilities and were being distributed to affected voting stations.

The logistical difficulties had previously raised concerns about the commission’s ability to meet election preparations deadlines.

In an earlier report, Eyewitness News (EWN) quoted IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya as acknowledging that the ruling had significantly disrupted preparations.

“Our logistical preparations have been significantly affected. The logistical operations, therefore, will now have to be conducted within a very truncated period and under very strict supervision,” Moepya said.

Meanwhile, eNCA previously reported that the IEC had also experienced operational challenges, including electricity disruptions caused by vandalism and power supply problems at some printing facilities.

Despite the setbacks, the commission has maintained that the election timetable would not be affected, with the main local government elections scheduled for Wednesday, 4 November.

The latest delays, however, place additional pressure on the IEC to ensure that all affected voting stations receive the correct ballot papers and are able to operate without further disruption.

Picture: X/@IECSouthAfrica

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu

Article written by