South Africa

Vote counting in the 2019 National and Provincial Elections is nearing the final stretch this morning.

The Electoral Commission (IEC) had finalised results from 13 731 of the 22 924 voting stations (59.89%), totaling 8.9 million votes at 6.30pm on Thursday.

Twenty people have been arrested for allegedly trying to vote for a second time during the 2019 National and Provincial Elections, says the South African Police Service (SAPS).

By Thursday afternoon, the leader board at Results Operation Centre (ROC) showed that over 7,5 million of the valid votes cast had been counted.

Senior researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Renée Koen, says the emergence of new political parties is an important development in any thriving democracy.

The Electoral Commission (IEC) will urgently conduct an audit of results and votes cast in a sample of voting stations to ascertain if double voting occurred.

Government has thanked the millions of South Africans from all walks of life who voted in the country’s sixth democratic national and provincial elections.

South Africa’s 2019 National and Provincial Elections are a prime example of how African countries can carry out future elections.

Results for the North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, which had been identified as high-risk areas in the 2019 National and Provincial Elections, have started to trickle in.

Political analysts scrutinising the 2019 National and Provincial Election results have heaped praise at the rate at which votes are being processed.

With just over three million votes counted at 9am today, two new parties, already featuring in the top 10, have expressed delight at their performance.

As the first day of vote-counting got underway in earnest, the National Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Pretoria, where IEC officials, observer missions, political representatives, media and analysts are stationed, is a hive of activity.

With only 16.66% of the voting districts having completed their counting so far, the results up on the leader board at the IEC’s National Results Operation Centre in Pretoria, are far from final.

As allegations swirl regarding two potential instances of double voting, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has assured voters of the overall integrity of the electoral process.

All eyes have now turned to the critical process of counting votes in the 2019 National and Provincial Elections.