IEC links Cape Town ballot delays to revised candidate lists
The IEC says Cape Town ballots were in the final printing run. Their arrival at storage facilities does not confirm every affected station has opened.
The Electoral Commission has linked Cape Town's delayed special-voting ballots to changes in candidate lists following October's Constitutional Court order.
At Monday's briefing, IEC official Masego Shiburi said Cape Town's ballots were in the final printing run, which ended on Sunday, according to The Citizen's report.
He said remaining ballots had reached decentralised storage facilities and were being distributed to stations. Packaging still involved security features, numbering and binding. That account does not confirm that every affected station had opened.
Why the candidate lists changed
The court order required the IEC to include 181 ANC candidates across six municipalities. These comprised 51 ward candidates and 130 proportional-representation candidates, according to the government's SAnews agency.
In its 16 October account of the commission's response, SAnews reported that the IEC extended relief to 32 other parties in a similar position. They had nominated compliant candidates and paid deposits but had not submitted final lists.
The commission said equal treatment of electoral contestants informed that decision. It warned then that the changes had compressed its logistical timetable, while saying it did not expect the 4 November election date to change.
What remains unconfirmed
EBNewsDaily's earlier report explained that 217 Cape Town stations missed Monday's scheduled 08:00 opening. That historical figure is not a count of stations still closed later in the day.
The briefing account did not provide an updated station-by-station opening count.