The Electoral Commission has expressed its confidence in readiness for the national and provincial elections on 7 May.
Everything was in place for the country’s 22 263 voting stations to open on schedule at 7am on Wednesday in anticipation of the arrival of 25.39 million voters who have registered to vote in the elections, Electoral Commission Chairperson Advocate Pansy Tlakula said today.
All materials have been distributed to local warehouses including 62 892 200 ballot papers – 31 411 100 national and 31 491 100 provincial – and 211 032 temporary positions have been filled and training done for voting station staff. Additionally some 4 563 area managers have been appointed to oversee voting activities within district areas. Along with permanent IEC staff, this brings to approximately 218 000 staff working on the elections.
Today’s start of special votes at voting stations and home visits had been a good systems and readiness check which had gone very well, Adv Tlakula said. Just under 400 000 voters had successfully informed the Chief Electoral Officer of their intention to cast a special vote today and tomorrow – either at their voting station or by being visited by election officials in the case of voters who are disabled, pregnant or ill.
Special voting was taking place in all but 3 593 of the country’s voting districts where no special votes had been applied for. This provided a very good “dry run” and systems check for Wednesday, Adv Tlukula said.
Only minor instances of primarily logistical issues were reported during the day. Among these were high winds along the eastern seaboard in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal which had blown over tents erected as temporary voting stations overnight. These had been re-erected today. Other incidents reported included the delayed opening of isolated voting stations due to delays of material deliveries, staff arrivals and some difficulties in gaining access to premises.
There were some isolated incidents of community protest action which were reported to the security structures and SA Police Service had been deployed in these areas to monitor the situation and to ensure the security of the voting process.
Meanwhile just over 12 000 marked ballots had arrived by courier from international voting stations. They are being reconciled against the list of voters who successfully notified the Chief Electoral Officer of their intention to vote outside the Republic. The ballot papers will then be set aside in ballot boxes and securely stored until local voting stations close and the counting of all ballot papers starts at 9pm on 7 May. The votes from all international voting stations will be combined into a single international voting district.
Further ballots are expected to arrive today and tomorrow from other international destinations. It will only be known how many voters cast their votes at international voting stations last week once counting begins but approximately 27 000 voters were expected to vote abroad.
Voting stations open for all registered voters at 7am on Wednesday and voting will continue until 9pm at night. Registered voters should vote at the voting station where they are registered and must have their green barcoded ID book, a temporary ID certificate or a new smart ID card in order to vote.
Voters can check their registration by SMSing their ID number of 32810 (cost R1) or calling 0800 11 8000. Information on voting is also available on http://www.elections.org.za/
For media queries, please contact:
Kate Bapela
Cell: 082 600 6386
For media interviews, please e-mail requests to: spokesperson@elections.org.za
You can also find the IEC on:
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/IECSouthAfrica
- Twitter: @IECSouthAfrica
- You Tube: www.youtube.com/user/IECSouthAfrica
- Mixit: iecsouthafrica
- Call centre: 0800 11 8000
