SA urged to let IEC staff do their jobs

THE Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said almost 1 million people had cast special votes by Tuesday afternoon.

However, the commission’s chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, said on Tuesday that they remained concerned about incidents of unlawful conduct directed at its operations or against electoral officials.

“We urge all South Africans, including political party members, supporters, and ordinary citizens, to allow electoral officials to carry out their responsibilities. The commission thanks the law enforcement agencies for their support and continued safeguard of the electoral process.”

Mamabolo said South Africans cast special votes at 22 626 voting stations and during home visits over the past two days. More than 1.7 million people had registered for special votes.

“At a point in the course of this afternoon, indications were that 937,144 voters had been processed. This figure is much higher than was the case in the previous elections and augurs well for turn-out tomorrow,” Mamabolo said.

Mamabolo said the lessons and experiences over the two days of special votes were valuable and will be used to refine operations on Wednesday.

“The commission urges all the remaining 26 million eligible voters to go out and cast their votes tomorrow.

“The network of 23,292 voting stations will open for voting at 7am and close at 9pm. It is important to emphasise that eligible voters who will be at the voting station at 9pm will be allowed to vote and not turned away.”

He said voters must vote where they are registered.

“The general rule in elections is that a person votes at a voting station where they have registered. The only exception to the general rule is that a voter may vote outside of their registered voting district only after notifying the CEO.

“Notifications in this regard closed on May 17. Approximately 360,000 voters have been approved to vote outside their voting districts.”

The Mercury