Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula asked the Constitutional Court for permission to appeal against the Pretoria High Court's ruling that South Africans living overseas have the right to vote, SABC news reported.

Acting Judge Piet Ebersohn ruled earlier this month that certain parts of the Electoral Act and Electoral Regulation were unconstitutional.

This was because they allowed people on short trips and diplomatic personnel to vote but not other citizens living outside the country.

The Freedom Front Plus which is behind the case is now asking the Constitutional Court to confirm the order.

In the notice to the court which Mapisa-Nqakula filed on Monday, she alleged that Ebersohn made mistakes in just about all his findings.

Among these was that the decision to disqualify certain classes of absent citizens from voting was political, and that only allowing certain people to vote was discrimination.

The minister also opposes the applications by other political parties who want to join the case in support.

The Constitutional Court has set aside Wednesday and Friday next week to hear all the applications.