Vote counting in the 2014 general election has begun, with the polls having closed at 9pm on Wednesday.
In a briefing after voting stations had closed, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said vote counting was expected to carry on throughout the night.
Early results had shown that the ANC won the first poll in Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape.
Urban voter turnout was higher than expected, with over 80% of registered voters in these areas turning up to cast their ballot.
Millions of voters made their mark in the country’s fifth democratic election, which took place as the country celebrates 20 years of freedom and democracy.
The IEC had said the voting process – for which 25.3 million voters were registered – had gone smoothly in the 22 363 voting stations set up throughout SA. However, a few incidents had been reported at isolated voting stations.
IEC chairperson Adv. Pansy Tlakula said the challenges experienced earlier in the day at some voting stations had been ironed out.
The national Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, reiterated that it would conduct a credible vote counting process. There is a ROC in all the country’s nine provinces, where the results will stream in until the official results are declared. – SAnews.gov.za
