The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in South Africa says it is ready for the upcoming local government elections set for November 4th. The IEC says a total of 136,790 candidates across the country have been certified to run in the elections. The Commission told a media briefing on Wednesday (yesterday) that some areas would have a double-column ballot layout because of the high number of candidates contesting for votes in those areas. Meanwhile the Electoral Court has dismissed an application by the African National Congress party, the ANC took the IEC to court challenging an exclusion of 181 of its candidates whose nominations were not finalised before the 28th August deadline set by the electoral commission. We spoke to James Aphane, General Manager for Electoral Operations at the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa

<p>The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in South Africa says it is ready for the upcoming local government elections set for November 4th. The IEC says a total of 136,790 candidates across the country have been certified to run in the elections. The Commission told a media briefing on Wednesday (yesterday) that some areas would have a double-column ballot layout because of the high number of candidates contesting for votes in those areas. Meanwhile the Electoral Court has dismissed an application by the African National Congress party, the ANC took the IEC to court challenging an exclusion of 181 of its candidates whose nominations were not finalised before the 28th August deadline set by the electoral commission. We spoke to&nbsp;James Aphane, General Manager for Electoral Operations at the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa</p>