Pretoria - With the closing time of voting stations fast approaching, the Free State province remains hopeful that registered voters will cast their votes before polls close at 7pm tonight.
“We have reached 25% of our registered voters but we remain hopeful. In areas like Maluti-a-Phofung, voting was distracted due to temporary stations being blown away by strong winds,” Free State Electoral Commission spokesperson Mmathabo Rasengane said.
Speaking shortly after 5:30pm, Rasengane said alternatives were made and that snow in Zastron is negatively impacting voter turnout.
She said the IEC cannot extend voting hours [between 7am and 7pm], as the hours have been legislated.
“We unfortunately cannot extend voting hours since it is legislated. So far, we have 368 057 voters that have cast their vote. We still encourage voters to continue going to stations to cast their votes,” Rasengane said.
Addressing a media briefing at the National Results Operation Centre (ROC) shortly before 6pm on Wednesday, IEC Chief Electoral Officer Mosotho Moepya said poor weather conditions in some parts of the country continue to present challenges to the voting process.
“The worsening weather conditions in some parts of the country – notably the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and parts of the Northern Cape – continue to present challenges to the voting process, especially in temporary structures,” said Moepya.
At least 30 tents were reported as being significantly affected by gale force winds and the IEC has taken a decision to allow voting stations in the worse affected areas to move to nearby permanent structures where feasible. – SAnews.gov.za
