ELECTION NEWS - The African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday took an early lead as counting of national and provincial ballots continued in the early hours.
Although it is much to early to read anything meaningful into the votes counted, as at 06:30 this morning the ANC is leading with 53,63% of the national vote followed by the DA with 27,36%.
In the Western Cape, the DA has a strong majority with 55% followed by the ANC with just over 28%.
Early counting placed the militant Black First Land First (BLF) in the far distance with less than 700 votes of the more than 1 million ballots counted so far. Early votes generally always come in from the smaller voting stations first, which tend to be mainly in rural areas.
Their nemesis the Freedom Front Plus were in fourth place with more than 50,000 votes.
In a statement at 23:30, IEC commissioner Mosotho Moepya said the Electoral Commission “would like to assure South Africa and all voters of the overall integrity of the electoral process” … “in the light of allegations of two separate instances of double voting”.
The alleged instances of the same individuals voting at different voting stations had been brought to the IEC’s attention over the past few hours.
Moepya, however, said the IEC’s checks and safeguards together served to protect the integrity of the vote.
