ID passes NNP in early poll counts

The Independent Democrats, contesting its first election on Wednesday, surpassed the long-established New National Party in early poll counts on Thursday morning.

By mid-morning, the ID had garnered 123 292 votes or 2,24% of the votes counted, putting them in fourth place. The NNP was in fifth place with 121 928 votes, or 2,21%.

Just over 27% of votes in had been counted by 10:30am — showing the African National Congress leading the race with 3,69-million or 66,98%.

The Democratic Alliance was in second place with 905 640 (16,43%), followed by the Inkatha Freedom Party with 246 041 votes (4,46%).

The African Christian Democratic Party stood at 106 035 votes (1,92%), the United Democratic Movement at 98 099 (1,78%), the Freedom Front Plus at 82 225 (1,49%), and the Pan Africanist Congress at 39 474 (0,72%).

The Keep It Straight and Simple party was lagging the furthest behind with 2 130 or 0,04% of the vote.

Full results expected on Friday

The counting of ballots has been completed in almost all the provinces except for some areas of Gauteng, said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Thursday morning. The IEC said that, at the present of rate of vote counting, full results are expected by midday on Friday.

”The people have voted and the counting of ballots in the third democratic elections has been successfully completed. This confirms that our electoral democracy has matured,” said IEC chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam.

So far 58% of both the national and provincial results have been captured and 39% have been audited.

Bam congratulated South African voters on their turnout and for waiting in the long voting queues with patience. She said the ”real stars” of this election had been the voters, and that they had responded to the call by registering and turning out for the elections in their droves.

Voting was only completed in the early hours of the morning at some voting stations, as many station in the rural areas battled to cope with the long queues.

Bam also commended political parties for way they have conducted themselves throughout the elections, saying that they had generally adhered to the IEC’s codes of conduct.

”These elections have characterised the spirit of cooperation between the IEC, political parties and, most importantly, the voters,” said Bam.

No final figures on voter turnout is yet available.

Ballot boxes found dumped in KZN

IEC Chief Electoral Officer Advocate Pansy Tlakula said that two ballot boxes were found dumped at two separate polling stations in KwaZulu-Natal. She said criminal charges had been laid against the area manager and presiding officers in the province.

She said that both ballot boxes were still sealed and that police were investigating the matter.

Tribute paid to Judge Kriegler

Bam also paid tribute to Justice Johan Kriegler who was present at the Thursday morning press announcement at the IEC’s Pretoria headquarters.

”The most significant thing is that we have learned from past mistakes, making us develop as a skilled unit. We are proud to say the IEC staff and many of our electoral staff that have been assisting us have passed the test,” said Bam.

Fight for the provinces

In the hotly contested province of KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC was leading with 232 872 votes (42,05%), followed by the IFP with 213 735 (38,60%), and the DA with 60 887 votes (11%). The IFP’s other alliance partner, the Freedom Front Plus, had 2 319 votes (0,42%) by 8:30am.

In the Western Cape, the ANC had 291 036 votes (40,60%), the DA 228 607 votes (31,89%), the NNP 69 538 votes (9,70%) and the ID 60 620 votes (8,46%).

The ANC had 601 626 or 56,11% of the votes counted in Gauteng, followed by the DA with 336 533 or 31,39% and the FF Plus with 27 127 or 2,53%, and the Independent Democrats (ID) with 22 020 or 2,05%.

In the Eastern Cape the ANC had 817 163 of the votes counted or 78,63%, in the Free State 229 145 or 75,67%, in Mpumalanga 430 657 or 84,78%, in the Northern Cape 142 182 or 67,91%, in Limpopo 573 958 or 88,52% and in the North West 423 754 or 79,86%.

Voters robbed by power blackout

Scores of voters may have been robbed of their right to vote on Wednesday because of a power failure which affected nine polling stations in Soweto and three in Roodepoort on the West Rand — a region frequently hit by power disruptions.

The power went out at 19h00 and only came back on shortly before midnight — almost three hours after voting stations officially closed.

The Independent Electoral Commission said that contingency plans had been put in place and that people had been able to continue voting. Some stations had used candles and in some cases City Power and Eskom had generator power to enable voters to cast their votes, it said. In some cases, police had also assisted by switching on their vehicle lights to enable voters to see.

When reporters visited one of the polling booths, however — in the Roodepoort suburb of Wilropark, which has regular power disruptions and apparently the highest number of burglaries in the region — the polling station was in pitch darkness and many voters, knowing that the power is frequently out for hours at a time, were leaving without having cast their votes.

And many en route to vote apparently turned back before even reaching their destination.

”We had to go into work to sort out problems caused by the regular power failures in this area and were unable to vote earlier. And because of the power failure, we couldn’t even get out of our offices to come and vote — because the doors and gates are all controlled by electricity due to the damn crime in the area,” two young disgruntled computer technicians complained. – Sapa, I-Net Bridge, Staff Reporter