By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is expected to release the provincial results tomorrow at 4 p.m and the national ballot at 6 p.m at the Results Operations Centre in Gallagher Estates, Midrand.
More than 90 percent of votes, or 21,000 of 23,292 voting districts, have been completed, the Electoral Commission said.
“The Electoral Commission is pulling out all the stops to ensure the finalisation of the capturing and auditing of the results for the 2024 national and provincial elections and remains on course to complete this process imminently,” said IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo at a media briefing at the national Results Operations Centre (ROC).
He said counting at all voting stations is complete and they have all the results at their local offices.
“The process underway is capturing them on our system for tallying and seat allocation,” he said.
The Electoral Commission has seven days from the date of the elections to announce the results.
It has been almost procedural over the last three decades for the African National Congress (ANC) to use its parliamentary majority to elect its leader as president of the country. This year may not be so simple.
With just 10 percent of votes to be completed, the ANC is on 41 percent. If trends persist and the ANC gets below 50 percent it would then need an agreement or coalition with another party or parties to stay in government and get the 201 votes it needs from lawmakers to re-elect President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The new parliament must meet for its first session within 14 days of the election results being announced to choose the president. Should the ANC lose its majority, there would likely be a feverish period of bargaining between it and other parties to form some sort of coalition before parliament sits.
It is also possible that several opposition parties could join together to remove the ANC completely from government and Ramaphosa as president if they do not have a majority. However, that is a very remote possibility.
The ANC has given no indication of who it might work with if South Africa needs an unprecedented national coalition government.
Meanwhile, the African Union Election Observation Mission, led by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta released a preliminary statement on the elections.
“South Africans freely exercised their constitutional right to vote and voted peacefully,” states the report.
On Wednesday, the mission deployed 65 observers who visited 297 voting stations across all provinces of South Africa.
“The day was marked by long queues. While the day was generally calm and peaceful, observers reported isolated incidents around some voting stations, primarily due to long queues and slow processing. The delays could be attributed to additional long and third ballot, Voter Management Device (VMD) failures, and late openings at some voting places,” states the interim report.
The report further noted that these were the seventh elections since the end of apartheid, and it “occurred amidst a renewed enthusiasm among South Africans to strengthen their democratic gains”.
“This election was notably competitive due to the emergence of several new political parties. Despite the peaceful and credible nature of the previous six elections, the 2024 elections were marked by a tense political environment, intensified by several litigations.
“The pre-election period saw heightened tensions and concerns over the potential misuse of social media for spreading fake news, disinformation, and misinformation, which could incite violence. Nevertheless, the elections proceeded without major incidents, maintaining a pattern of peaceful conduct.
“Despite the challenges and tensions, the 2024 elections were conducted peacefully, demonstrating the resilience of South Africa’s democratic processes.”