South Africa will hold local government elections on 1 November, the South African Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs announced on Wednesday.
“After consultation with the Independent Electoral Commission, we have determined that this year’s Local Government elections will be held on 1 November 2021,” Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma told a press conference.
“We will officially proclaim this date on 20 September 2021, after the voter registration weekend,” she added.
Voter registration will take place on 18 and 19 September, she said.
On Friday, South Africa’s Constitutional Court rejected the Independent Electoral Commission’s request to postpone the elections due to the covid-19 pandemic in the country, stating that the elections should be held between 27 October and 1 November.
The South African electoral commission requested the postponement of the local elections after the proclamation on 3 August of a date of 27 October 2021 by the ruling African National Congress government.
The deadline for nominating candidates for a new five-year term was also extended.
In this sense, the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party in South Africa, asked the Constitutional Court to “block” the reopening of the nomination process for candidates in these local elections, saying that the change in the electoral calendar will benefit the ANC for not having registered its candidates in time.
