Parties mostly happy with voting progress

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA - Apr 22 2009 11:33

Political party representatives at the Independent Electoral Commission's centre in Pretoria were mostly happy with the progress of voting on Wednesday, despite some glitches.

With most voting stations opened by 10am, many voters had already cast their ballots, while scores of others were in queues waiting to do so.

Parties stationed at the centre were pleased with the IEC's dedication. The African National Congress (ANC) said it was "very happy", the Democratic Alliance (DA) said it was efficient.

"We are very happy so far, there have been no incident reports and there are very few stations still unopened," said ANC party liason committee representative, Beattie Hofmeyr.

DA councillor Mike Moriarty said: "The vast majority of stations are working properly."

Congress of the People (Cope) representative Juli Killian said there was an "absolute commitment to impartiality" in the IEC's top structures.

However, she said that at times this commitment did not filter down to staff on the ground.

"The challenge for them is to get the district voting officials to support that commitment," she said, adding that the party had received reports of ANC branding at some polling stations.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) secretary general Humphrey Nobongoza said his party had received reports that "ballot papers were flying all around" in Cala in the Eastern Cape.

"The matter is of serious concern, it means there is a lack of control ... it sends a bad signal," he said. Nobongoza, who was watching former president Thabo Mbeki cast his ballot on television, said he was due to meet the IEC at 11am to raise these concerns.

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Moriarty said the DA had learned a voter in Britz had received a ballot paper which was already marked with a cross next to the ANC.

He said the matter had been reported to the police and the party was waiting for a case number.

The party wanted all the staff at the station to be removed and replaced.

"Other than that reports indicate things are going efficiently ... but we are obviously concerned about issues of security, because it means it's possible for people to interfere.

"We are watching very, very strictly," said Moriarty.

Hofmeyr said the ruling party had trained 60 000 party agents and had 3 500 operation centres up and running to keep an eye on the process.

"It seems to be going quite good everywhere ... we are happy to be getting reports of long queues now because the weather may turn bad in some parts of the country, preventing people from going out later," she said.

Clutching a cup of coffee in the breezy centre, Killian said while the IEC had excellent systems in place, these could not be relied on unless they were implemented fairly and efficiently on the ground.

Meanwhile, as the SABC reported live from one end of the centre, journalists, security staff and IEC officials went about preparing for the arrival of the first results after the close of voting stations at 9pm. -- Sapa

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Parties mostly happy with voting progress

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