Mpumalanga likely to stay ANC stronghold as provincial IEC declares ‘successful’ polls

With almost 30% of votes counted on Tuesday morning in Mpumalanga, it appears the province will continue to be an ANC stronghold but with a slightly reduced majority from the last municipal elections.

By 9am on Tuesday, 28% of votes were completed in Mpumalanga and the ANC received 53.23% of the all votes tallied so far. The ANC was followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) at 17.81% and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at 14.69%.

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In the last local government elections in 2016, the ANC garnered 70.74% of complete votes in the province followed by the DA at 12.93% and the EFF at 9.39%.

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According to Nox Simelane, the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC’s) Mpumalanga manager, they expect to complete the capturing of the province’s total results by Wednesday evening.

“As the electoral commission, we can proudly confirm that we had a successful election in the province. All our voting stations closed at 9pm and counting commenced immediately thereafter,” Simelane told eNCA.

Presiding officer fired

Simelane said there were no major incidents related to ballot tampering reported in the province on voting day. He said one of the IEC’s presiding officers was fired after being found under the influence of alcohol.

“The presiding officer was replaced by the deputy presiding officer, meaning that the position of deputy presiding officer was elevated to the position of a presiding officer,” Simelane said.

39% voter turnout

With voter turnout expected to be low in this election cycle, the IEC in Mpumalanga said by Tuesday morning the overall voter turnout stood at 39%.

Simelane said the number might increase during the day because IEC officials did not use the new voter management devices (VMDs) to capture special votes at the weekend.

“The number might increase and we might reach 40% in the province,” he said.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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