Members of political parties
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
The count has now begun.
As voting ended at voting stations around the country, election officials have now begun opening ballot boxes under the watchful eyes of party agents and observers and begun the careful process of counting votes.
The Electoral Commission is extremely pleased with the way in which voting proceeded throughout the country.
Voting proceeded without serious incident in almost all areas – and the most significant challenges faced were mainly as a result of the high turnout at voting stations and voters voting where they were not registered.
Very high volumes of voters were reported in metro areas throughout the country – including Tshwane, Johannesburg, Durban, Nelson Mandela Bay and Cape Town.
This resulted in lengthy queues in a number of voting stations. In some of these areas voting is still continuing as election officials ensure they allow all voters who were in the queue at 21h00 to complete their votes.
At one voting station in the Durban metro in KwaZulu-Natal there were over 1 200 voters still in the queue after 7pm tonight.
Imbalances in the distribution of ballot papers accustomed by Section 24A process – which allows voters to vote voting station other than the one where they are registered - were reported in a number of cities. This resulted in temporary shortages of ballot papers and of VC 4 forms at some stations.
In most cases additional stock was able to be rapidly deployed from reserves or from other voting stations. In most cases any delays were dealt with within 30 minutes.
However, there were instances where longer delays were experienced but these were isolated and a very small minority. The longest a station was unable to continue with operations due to shortages of ballot papers was two hours at a school in Ward 57 in KwaZulu-Natal.
Other challenges experienced include power outages in a number of areas which affected voting after dark and have delayed the start of counting. We are working closely with Eskom to ensure power is restored swiftly to affected areas which include parts of Thabazimbi in Limpopo and certain parts of Rustenburg in the North West.
Counting of the tens of millions of provincial and national ballot papers will now continue through the night and into tomorrow.
The Electoral Commission would like to thank the South African voters who showed patience, tolerance and dignity in exercising their right to vote today.
Our country has again showed that we have much to be proud of as a nation; that our democracy remains strong and vibrant; that a new generation is building on the foundation of 1994 to participate in our democracy.
Ladies and gentlemen
It now gives me great pleasure to announce that we have our first result in.
It is from Umzimvubu (Mount Ayliff) in the Eastern Cape.
You should now see it reflected on the boards behind us.
So we are underway.
Our best wishes to all the contestants.
