JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s third-largest political party, led by former President Jacob Zuma, has filed legal papers seeking to halt the country’s first parliamentary session scheduled for Friday for a presidential election.
Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe party said none of its 58 newly elected members would sit in parliament after it challenged last month’s general election, which it claimed was riddled with fraud, with the Independent Electoral Commission saying it won just over 14 percent of the vote.
The party, also known as MK, has not publicly presented any evidence to support its claims. The commission says it has addressed all objections.
The lawsuit is now asking the Constitutional Court to quash the commission’s decision declaring the elections free and fair, and to order the president to hold new elections.
The election saw the ruling African National Congress lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power three decades ago at the end of the apartheid era.
The ANC is currently trying to form a government of national unity with various opposition parties.
The outcome of the talks will determine who parliament chooses as South Africa’s president. Zuma’s rival, President Cyril Ramaphosa, is seeking re-election for a second term.
