Pretoria – The Electoral Commission says the outstanding vote results from metro and district councils are expected to be known within the next few hours.
Giving an update on the vote counting underway at the IEC’s National Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Pretoria on Friday evening, Electoral Commission Chairperson Glen Mashinini said work is continuing to finalise the results for outstanding councils, which include a number of district councils and some of the largest metros.
The councils whose results are still outstanding include the City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni Municipality, eThekwini Metro, Buffalo City and City of Cape Town.
“A short while ago, results from 21 791 of the 22 612 voting districts had been finalised and the outcome of the 2016 Municipal Elections is known in all but 39 of the 257 councils being contested.
“Work is continuing to finalise the results of these outstanding councils, which include a number of district councils in the country. Some of them are the largest metros and for obvious reasons, the data and processing is taking slightly longer, but it’s within our target time,” said Mashinini.
By 6pm on Friday, 97% of vote counting had been completed nationally. The ANC was leading with 54.31%, followed by the DA with 26.42% and the EFF with 8.02%.
Forty nine objections received
Meanwhile, Mashinini reported that the commission had received 49 objections and it will be meeting later to consider every objection.
In terms of Section 65 of the Municipal Electoral Act, political parties and candidates have until 5pm on the second day after voting to lodge objections, which are material to the result.
The Commission will on Saturday announced the final results at 6pm. – SAnews.gov.za
