The New National Party lodged a complaint with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) against the Democratic Alliance on Tuesday, following the publication of a newspaper advertisement.
The NNP wanted the IEC to "immediately investigate the DA for contravening the Electoral Act and Electoral Code of Conduct that was signed only yesterday", NNP spokesperson Juli Kilian said in a statement.
"The DA published an advertisement containing false and misleading statements about the NNP in an Afrikaans daily newspaper in the Western Cape," she said.
The NNP believed the advert was a clear contravention of the Act which explicitly prohibited the publication of intentional false statements.
In a letter to IEC chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula, the NNP said the advert in Tuesday's Die Burger newspaper stated "Die NNP wil die mag in die Wes-Kaap aan die ANC gee" ("The NNP wants to give power in the Western Cape to the ANC").
The statement and message conveyed in the advert was prima facie a "deliberate misrepresentation of the facts, intended to exercise undue influence and mislead voters on the bases of false presumptions, intended to influence the outcome of the election, prejudicing the NNP, its members, candidates and supporters", the letter read. - Sapa