Giving IEC power over party poll comments will undermine freedom, DA says
Official opposition party challenges order to apologise to former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille
If the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) is granted the power to police election speech by political parties, this would ultimately undermine the freedom and fairness of the country’s elections, the DA says. The opposition party made the argument in papers filed with the Electoral Court in which it challenged decisions by the IEC, most notably ordering the DA to apologise to its former Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille, who now leads the newly formed party Good. The national and provincial elections are expected to be hotly contested as parties vie for support at the polls on May 8. Multiple complaints have so far been laid in the run-up to the elections, which included De Lille’s complaint over the messaging used in tele-canvassing by the DA. The DA was found to have violated the IEC’s electoral code of conduct after it spread false information about De Lille, who it said was fired from her job as mayor. De Lille and the DA were embroiled in a protracted battle in which the ...
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