Parties happy with election progress

As the 2016 Municipal Elections are well underway, the National Results Operation Centre is rather quiet for such a busy day. Political parties have been keeping a close watch on the proceedings of the day.

Democratic Alliance (DA) member of parliament James Selfe said that the African National Congress (ANC) and the DA were forecast to be neck-and-neck. “We have pulled out all the stops on these elections, the only snag is the long queues that citizens must endure,” he said. He explained that if the DA managed to get all its supporters to vote, it stood a good chance of taking over the City of Johannesburg.Selfe added that t hey were only expecting the results to come in at the latest tomorrow.

ANC Deputy Secretary General, Jessie Duarte, explained that things were going well and there were some issues in the morning that had been straightened out by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). “People are coming out to vote despite the weather and the long queues,” she said. Duarte pointed out that Joburg’s northern suburbs were very quiet in contrast to the city centre and Soweto.

Secretary General and Chief Whip in Parliament for the Congress of the People (Cope), Deidre Carter said that even though they had not campaigned extensively they still hoped to retain their 19 seats throughout Gauteng. “We have campaigned from the heart and we did so out of our own pockets,” she pointed out. She added that they were very happy with the IEC and how it was running the elections. “IEC machinery is running like a well-oiled machine, there have been some small glitches but they were ironed out pretty quickly,” she said.

However, Economic Freedom Fighters spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi lambasted IEC officers for not allowing voters into voting stations with party T-shirts. “Despite the IEC’s mess up we are very happy with the way things are going. We are very tranquil and we are confident that South Africans will make the right decision,” he said.