South Africa’s top court dismisses bid to postpone local election

Judgement is a blow to the ruling ANC, which supported a postponement and has struggled to register candidates.

South Africa’s top court has dismissed an application by the Electoral Commission to postpone local elections due on October 27, court documents showed on Friday. The judgement is a blow to the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which supported a postponement and has struggled to register thousands of councillors expected to contest the municipal elections. In 2016, the party was hammered in local government elections, losing cities such as Johannesburg to rival opposition parties in the ANC’s worst faring since sweeping to power in South Africa’s first democratic vote in 1994.