South Africa’s Former President Bars from May Presidential Poll

South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been barred from running in May’s general election, the country’s Electoral Commission (IEC) has said.

Mr. Zuma’s backing of the new uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party has been seen as a possible threat to the governing African National Congress (ANC).

The former president, who served from 2009 to 2018, has been suspended by the ANC.

His was the first name on the MK’s candidate list, but the IEC received objections to him potentially becoming a member of the national assembly.

Mr. Zuma received a 15-month prison sentence in 2021 for contempt of court and the constitution says anyone who has had a prison sentence of longer than 12 months is not eligible to run for election.

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That would force the party once led by Nelson Mandela to form a coalition to stay in office.

The ANC is bleeding support amid a weak economy and allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

The electoral commission said in a statement that under the constitution any person who was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine cannot stand in an election.

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in jail in June 2021 after refusing to testify to a panel probing financial corruption and cronyism under his presidency.

Besides his 2021 contempt conviction, he is facing separate charges of corruption in an arms procurement scandal in the 1990s, when he was vice president.