Johannesburg: The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has announced that it will approach the court to defer the local government polls, which is scheduled to be held on October 27, in view of the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

The Commission will urgently brief Senior Counsel to launch an application in a court of competent jurisdiction to seek judicial authorisation to conduct the election outside of the constitutionally prescribed time periods," IEC Chairperson Glen Mashinini as saying on Friday.

 he said "The Commission notes the rational and central thesis of the report that community immunity through mass vaccination must be considered as a desirable step in the conduct of a safe, free and fair election in the republic,"  He also  said Electoral Commission will postpone upcoming voter registration weekend scheduled for July 31 and August 1 to a later date and ask the courts to grant the election date not later than February 2022.

"The Commission appeals for a spirit of calm, support and working together among all stakeholders, in the interest of stability and certainty on the one hand, and at the indispensable need for the preservation of constitutional electoral democracy in the Republic," the IEC Chair added. In response to the announcement, South Africa's second-largest party in Parliament, Democratic Alliance (DA), said it doesn't support the postponement.

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