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In what could be a sign of things to come, the Electoral Court on Tuesday postponed by-elections scheduled for June in a bid to reduce the possible spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Citing a possible widespread of Covid-19 if the by-elections had been allowed to go ahead as planned, the court ruled that the elections be postponed to a later date regardless of a possible infringement to the 90 days legislated period for the filling of councillor vacancies.
The ruling comes as the country prepares for the local government elections in 2021.
The Electoral Court ruling was confirmed on Tuesday by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), which welcomed the decision by the court to postpone the by-elections.
In a statement, the commission said: “The Electoral Court today granted the application of the [IEC] to postpone the by-elections scheduled for June 3 and 10, along with associated activities including voter registration.”
READ: IEC halts 9 by-elections due to Covid-19
According to the IEC, the court ruled that the by-elections could be held beyond the 90 days legislated period for the filling of councillor vacancies, but not beyond 120 days from the date of the order.
As a result, the by-elections will be moved to a later date, with a new timetable being revised accordingly and scheduled to be shared with the public shortly.
“The Electoral Court also granted permission to the Electoral Commission to approach the court again for further or alternative relief – including a further postponement – should this be necessary,” read the IEC statement.
The postponed by-elections include one scheduled for June 3 at the Rustenburg Local Municipality Ward 2 in the North West, as well as one scheduled for the same day in the Eastern Cape’s Umzimvubu Local Municipality Ward 25.
Other disrupted by-elections include those in the Eastern Cape’s Amahlathi Local Municipality Ward 13 as well as Walter Sisulu Local Municipality Wards 6 and 11, which were set to take place on June 10.
KwaZulu-Natal, which has the third highest number of Covid-19 infections, also suffered a delay in its Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipality Ward 2 and uPhongolo Local Municipality Ward 4 by-elections, which were set for June 10.
The North West’s JB Marks Local Municipality Ward 5, Western Cape’s Drakenstein Local Municipality Ward 3 and Gauteng’s embattled Emfuleni Local Municipality Ward 43 make up the rest of the affected by-elections.
While it remains unclear whether next year’s local government elections will be affected by the pandemic, electioneering time for political parties has already been eaten into by the lockdown and social distancing measures put in place by government to curb the spread of the pandemic.
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