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Alan Winde, Western Cape Premier candidate, celebrates the DA's one million votes in the Western Cape at the Result Operation Centre (ROC) at Century City Conference Centre on 31 May 2024 in Cape Town. Several parties in the Western Cape have lodged an urgent objection with the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) within the objection period, which closed at 21:00 on Friday. (Photo by Gallo Images/ER Lombard)
- Several political parties in the Western Cape are angry about the Electoral Commission of South Africa's handling of votes.
- On Friday evening, they filed an urgent bid with the commission for an extension of the objection period, which ended at 21:00.
- The commission's provincial head, Michael Hendrickse, said parties were allowed to raise objections in accordance with the Electoral Act and explained the process.
- Track the latest results via our Elections Map.
Several political parties in the Western Cape are fuming over the Electoral Commission of South Africa's (IEC) handling of votes.
On Friday evening, parties lodged an urgent bid to have the objection period, which closed at 21:00, extended.
Sixteen parties signed a letter to the provincial IEC, claiming that there were several voting discrepancies in some districts.
The parties said they had raised concerns during a meeting with representatives on Friday evening, but that their concerns had not been responded to.
"We jointly request condonation until 48 hours after the last ballot paper has been scanned and submitted for verification," the letter stated.
Among the concerns raised were the IEC's handling of votes and a complaint that staff were not equipped to handle the number of people who voted.
FOLLOW LIVE | LIVE: Several political parties in the Western Cape file objection with IEC over votes
Freedom Front Plus MPL Peter Marais told journalists: "I want to know what they did with the millions from national government to ensure that staff are efficiently trained. If this is the way they are going to run elections, we are not far from our own Arab Spring."
Marais added:
The last time we saw democracy was when the old guard of the ANC was still in charge.
Al Jama-ah's Shameemah Salie said: "The IEC says they cannot give us many answers. We have been lodging complaints and many of these complaints have not been responded to."
Earlier on Friday, the EFF in the province complained to the IEC that there were 100 missing votes from its tally.
It claimed that on the results slip, 156 votes were supposed to be credited to them but that the 1 was removed, giving them 56 votes instead.
The ANC had similar complaints.
On Friday, the EFF's Unathi Ntame had a heated discussion with IEC provincial head Michael Hendrickse.
Hendrickse told News24 that in terms of legislation, which he said was explained to all political parties, parties were entitled to lodge objections by 21:00 on Friday.
"As was also explained, if they miss the 21:00 deadline on Friday, the Electoral Act also allows them to make a case out for condonation for late submission.
"That was also explained to the various political parties. Obviously, the result that we have here, which is reflected at our results centre, is not the final result because, as I told the parties, the final result is determined by the commission sitting in Tshwane," he added.
Hendrickse said he had also explained to the parties a statutory process had to be followed for any issues or objections.
But he stressed:
I can't intervene in what the law provides.
He added that the IEC in the province could not advise on the time of its media briefing on Saturday after its briefing was called off at the last minute on Friday night.
He said it had been called off because he needed to deal with the matters that the political parties were raising.
