Pretoria - Voting is proceeding smoothly at the country’s 22 363 voting stations, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Adv Pansy Tlakula said on Wednesday.
Giving the media an update of the 2014 general election voting process at the national Results Operations Centre in the country’s capital, Tlakula said the issues that had affected voting at some isolated voting stations earlier today have all been resolved, and voting is proceeding well in such areas.
“Voters are continuing to come out in their vast numbers to participate in this fifth general election. The most pressing challenge we are facing at the moment is an extremely high turnout at voting stations, especially those in urban and metro areas, where long queues continue to be experienced at a number of voting stations.
“It should be remembered that we have the highest number of registered voters in South Africa’s history for these elections (25.39 million),” she said.
This is about 2.2 million more than the registered voters for the 2009 general election.
According to Tlakula, the high turnout at some stations and the long queues are having an impact on voters seeking to vote at voting stations where they are not registered. Voters are able to do this in general elections, as dictated by section 24(A) of the Electoral Act.
“The impact of this, however, has been to put pressure on our planning and logistics, and we have received reports of some stations requiring additional materials.
“We are pleased to report that our contingency planning in this regard is holding up well and materials are able to be quickly provided to voting stations where they are needed.”
The IEC had printed and distributed over 62 million ballot papers for this year’s elections.
Tlakula said the majority of voting stations opened on time. There were, however, a few exceptions.
“We are pleased to announce that all voting stations that experienced delays earlier are all open, with the last station opening at 2:50pm in troubled Maruleng in Limpopo.
“As the Commission, we will meet later today to assess the situation at these and other voting stations that have experienced high volumes,” she said.
Voting will continue until 9pm tonight at all voting stations and Tlakula emphasised that any voter, who will be at a voting station at 9pm, will be allowed to vote. - SAnews.gov.za
