It was a good day in the Electoral Court for the Electoral Commission of South Africa on 15 September when three of the four cases were decided in favour of the commission.

With commendable speed, the Electoral Court heard all four cases concerning candidate lists and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on 15 September 2026. Within minutes of hearing the submissions, the court delivered its orders in three cases. In the last case, heard after normal hours, the court issued its order the following morning. Written judgment followed eight days later.

One case was an intra-party dispute in which the commission was cited as an interested party. In tandem with the speed with which the court delivered judgment, the commission substituted the candidates as soon as the order was granted.

Equally praiseworthy was the ability of the court to muster sufficient judges with experience in electoral law to constitute four different panels. Considering that three of the cases concerned the same issue - the failure to submit candidate lists timeously - having different judges decide the same issue and arrive at the same conclusion added weight to the "rigid" enforcement of the principle.

The principle

What was the principle? At stake was the principle set in the Constitutional Court of "rigid adherence" to electoral laws, paradoxically, for the sake of fairness for all. In this instance, it was compliance with...