ANC heading for 70%
2004-04-15 19:39
Pretoria - The African National Congress was on the cusp of achieving 70% of the vote in the national elections, with the Independent Democrats, the party headed by Patricia De Lille, the surprise newcomer.
The ANC had 69.6% of the vote at 18:00 on Thursday night, with just over 67% of the votes counted and audited.
The Democratic Alliance will remain the official opposition with 14.04% of the votes nationally and at least in seven of the nine provinces.
The Inkatha Freedom Party had picked up 5.15% of the vote by early Thursday evening.
The United Democratic Movement, at 1.95%, and Independent Democrats, with 1.91% and the New National Party with 1.84% of the national vote, were in close competition.
There has been some speculation that newcomer the ID could get three seats in parliament working on the basis of 55 000 votes per seat. This would only be confirmed when the Independent Electoral Commission confirms the number of people who voted in Wednesday's third
democratic elections.
NNP blames 'short-sighted electorate'
The NNP's Juli Kilian blamed her party's poor performance on a short-sighted electorate who were attracted to parties that "played the opposition game".
"The minority are opting for the so-called strong opposition. We are concerned about this trend."
The Ekurhuleni and Tshwane metropolitan councils in Gauteng were the last two to be counted in the country, IEC spokesperson Rich Mkhondo said.
IEC chair Brigalia Bam earlier on Thursday paid tribute to those who cast their votes, the political parties and the staff of the IEC.
"I wish to take this opportunity to thank the voters for going to the polls in their large numbers, making us register a massive voter turnout thus far," she said.
Bam commended political parties for the manner in which they conducted themselves throughout the process by adhering to the electoral code of conduct.
She said the profile of the IEC as an impartial and independent organisation continued to grow.
IEC chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said they expected to have most of the results by midday on Friday.
Isolated incidents in KZN
The elections were fairly trouble-free, with a few isolated incidents in KwaZulu-Natal.
Two sealed ballot boxes were found dumped in separate
places - Ixopo and Msinga - in the province on Thursday. Two IEC officials will face criminal charges in connection with the matter.
KwaZulu-Natal was also the scene of allegations of political violence and vote rigging.
Incidents included the shooting of a DA councillor, security forces evacuating ANC party agents, and the IFP laying another complaint of irregularities with election authorities.
A DA councillor and his wife were shot and wounded in the Folweni area on the South Coast early on Thursday in what the party believes may be political violence.
Their bakkie was fired upon by unknown gunmen on the Umkomaas main road.
In Ulundi, about 30 ANC party agents were evacuated by security forces after they were threatened by people wielding firearms and traditional weapons, ANC provincial security spokesperson Bheki Cele said.
The IFP reported that it had laid a charge of corruption against an IEC officer in Inanda, north of Durban, because she was allegedly found in possession of registration stickers on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, the IFP lodged another complaint with election authorities, accusing its main rival in the province, the ANC, of pasting voter registration stickers into the identity books of voters at the SJ Smith Hostel in Durban.
The IEC received a resounding thumbs-up from political organisations for its management of the 2004 election.
"Satisfied" was the word used by most party representatives canvassed at the IEC results centre in Pretoria on Thursday.
All parties agreed that any problems they had with the electoral process so far had nothing to do with the IEC.
Watch the provisional results of the national and provincial elections as they come in on News24.com
- SAPA