IEC: Voting is going smoothly
JOBURG - The national and provincial elections are progressing smoothly, the Independent Electoral Commission said.
The IEC noted isolated incidents of community protests and instances of polling stations opening late due to logistical issues, but did not expect these problems to persist, hampering election processes.
According to the IEC, the number of incidents during this year’s elections was significantly lower than in previous years.
Ninety-five percent of voting stations were operational as scheduled on 7 May, despite delays including late arrival of staff and delayed delivery of voting material, IEC chief electoral officer Mosotho Moepya told journalists at the IEC Results Operations Centre in Pretoria.
Hot spots such as Bekkersdal in Gauteng were being closely watched for incidences of violence but Moepya said that voting had thus far been incident-free and was proceeding smoothly.
The IEC was confident all the necessary systems were in place to ensure all voters were able to cast their ballot and no station was expected to be closed throughout the course of the day, he said.
Voting stations would close at 9pm but Gauteng electoral officer Mashego Shiburi said that everyone who was in a queue at a voting station at 9pm would be accommodated.
“If you are in a queue by 9 o’ clock, you will be allowed to vote… if we close the gate of the station and you come after 9 o’ clock unfortunately we will not be able to assist those.”
Meanwhile, voting in Gauteng was going well- despite density challenges as a result of it being the province with the largest voter numbers.
“Our segment of the voters’ roll has six million people, estimates indicate that by midday… 1.3 million people would’ve come through our network of 2 647 voting stations.”
Shiburi was hopeful that this year Gauteng would match its voter turnout for 2009.
According to Shiburi, results from small voting stations were expected at about 11pm on 7 May while results from bigger stations would be concluded later that evening.
However, he said, this was dependent on whether there were any problems during counting or any objections were raised.
He said results were expected to begin streaming from the IEC’s Results Operations Centre in the early hours of 8 May.
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