No selfies of ballot paper allowed
An image of a voter wearing an ANC T-shirt displaying a ballot paper circulated on social media on Wednesday.
Do not take photographs and selfies of your marked ballot papers, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Wednesday.
Chairperson Glen Mashinini said it was essential for South Africans to protect the secrecy and integrity of their vote and the process.
His warning came as the country’s fifth municipal election entered its last few hours on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, a picture appeared on social media of a young voter capturing an image of himself after marking EFF on his ballot paper.
He was wearing an ANC T-shirt.
It was unclear at which voting station the image was taken from.
EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu took to his Twitter account and shared the image.
Pics of cast ballots aren't allowed but the people are illustrating that you can't buy votes with T-shirt. #VoteEFF. pic.twitter.com/1H54pTYw6q
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) August 3, 2016
Mashinini said: “We encourage voters to rather take a picture of their marked thumb to show they have voted and to post these on social media with the hashtag #ivoted to encourage further participation.”
It's illegal to take a picture of your ballot paper. When outside the voting station, share a selfie using #ivoted pic.twitter.com/xTl8NYKr31
— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) August 3, 2016
Residents were still queuing to cast their votes at their local voting stations on Wednesday afternoon.
The IEC said voting stations reported strong turnouts from early in the morning with many voters already waiting to vote before the 07:00 opening.
Voting was going to continue throughout the day until 19:00 when voting stations closed.
“Voters who are at the voting station or in a queue at 19:00 will be allowed to vote,” Mashinini said.
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