Electoral Court set aside ATM’s ‘vote-rigging’ allegations in May 29 elections

The Electoral Court has dismissed, with no costs to order, the African Transformation Movement's (ATM) bid to set aside the May 29 national and provincial elections which it claimed were rigged.

The ATM had asked the Electoral Court to declare the polls not free and fair as it was announced by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).

The ATM was one of many parties that participated in the 2024 elections. It won two seats in Parliament and also secured a seat in the Eastern Cape Legislature.

The party, however, accused the IEC of failing to uphold the ethics of the electoral process and rigging the elections.

It argued that there were purported inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the voters' roll, discrepancies related to the ballot boxes, alleged malfunctions of the voter management devices, and instances of misconduct by certain commissioners.

The ATM requested in its application that President Cyril Ramaphosa be ordered to schedule a new election within 90 days.

Both the IEC and the Democratic Alliance (DA) opposed the lawsuit, which was founded on claims of errors and discrepancies in the voter list and voting boxes.

The lack of a case for the ATM was their justification.

Acting Electoral Court Judge Leicester Adams recently ruled in favour of the IEC and the DA, concluding that the ATM's claim lacked merit.

Adams said ATM failed miserably to comply with the procedural requirements prescribed by section 55.

"The main difficulty with ATM’s case is that, as contended by the Commission and by the DA, the application consists almost exclusively of a series of sweeping, vague and general allegations, none of which are supported by any evidence, let alone credible evidence," he said.

Meanwhile, parties like uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and the SA Communist Party (SACP) believe that the elections were rigged.

kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za

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