Smaller parties concede the elections were fair

A coalition of 27 smaller parties who had been attempting to call the legitimacy of the elections into question have backed down and are now prepared to accept the outcome of the 2019 National elections.

Following an extensive meeting held by the IEC with party liasons the disgruntled group’s unofficial spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi from ATM, admitted that “The 27-odd parties concede and accept the results.”

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“We were suitably briefed by the Statistician-General and accept that although there is a margin of 0.1% likelihood that there might be contaminated votes, that isn’t enough to hold the IEC to ransom,” Manyi said.

Concerns had been raised by the parties that there were numerous individuals during the elections who had attempted to or succeeded in, voting twice. This came to a head the day after polling when the 27 smaller parties banded together to protest at the IEC’s operations centre in Tshwane.

Before the two hour meeting, the IEC had already indicated its willingness to vigorously oppose any legal challenges to the legitimacy of the elections.

While official word of the acceptance has not been forthcoming from the 26 other parties, Mzwanele Manyi’s ATM has released a statement affirming its support for the IEC and unwillingness to “hold the country to ransom”.