IEC pleased but inclement weather a factor in elections 2016

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The Electoral Commission says it is pleased that there were no significant incidents of unrest or deliberate disruptions to voting during Wednesday’s local government election.

In a statement the IEC said that by 17H00 Wednesday all voting stations were reported as having opened and all logistical and other challenges which had impacted voting earlier in the day had been resolved.

However, the IEC said “the worsening weather conditions in some parts of the country, notably the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and parts of the Northern Cape, had presented challenges to the voting process especially in temporary structures.”

“At least 30 tents had been reported being significantly affected by gale force winds and the Electoral Commission has taken a decision to allow voting stations in the worse affected areas to move to nearby permanent structures where feasible.”

The ANC in the Eastern Cape has taken the IEC to task for the collapsing tents.

Provincial secretary, Lubabalo Mabuyane, said “the ANC is of the view that the IEC should have hired existing buildings and public infrastructure like churches in communities instead of hiring marquees."

“A case in point is that 50 metres away from the tent that collapsed there is a church that could have been used for voting,” Mabuyane said, referring to a tent collapse in Breidbach near King Williams Town.

 The Electoral Commission said it also received a report late Wednesday about an alleged shooting near a voting station in ward 26 in the newly created municipality LIM345 (comprising Malamulele and Vuwani) in Limpopo.

“The incident was reported to have occurred in the Malamulele area. No further details or confirmation were available at the time of issuing this statement,” the IEC said.

The Electoral Commission also reported the deaths at or in the vicinity of voting stations of two more voters in separate incidents. “These occurred in Ingwe municipality in KwaZulu-Natal and in Struisbaai in the Western Cape. In both incidents it would appear that the deaths were of natural causes.”