Pretoria – The fifth democratic elections of South Africa proceeded smoothly and peacefully, Electoral Commission deputy chairperson Terry Tselane said on Saturday.

He said at the IEC results operations centre in Pretoria: “These elections were not perfect – no election is.”

“We will see where mistakes were made and how best to prevent those in the future.

“This election has showed that we have much to be proud of as a nation,” he said.

He said voters waited on average for 16 minutes in the queues before voting.

About 97% of voters expressed satisfaction with how the elections proceeded on election day on Wednesday, he said.

He said history would show that this year’s elections were the best run the country ever had.

– SAPA