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98% of national vote counted at lunch


Pretoria – The Electoral Commission said on Friday that 97.62% of the national vote in the fifth democratic elections had been counted by lunch.

It said that 21 734 of the 22 263 voting districts had been counted.

Out of the 17 788 485 votes counted so far, 17 546 070 were valid.

Nationally there were 24 269 962 people registered.

The African National Congress was leading with more than 10 million votes so far, which represented 62.26%.

The Democratic Alliance was in second spot with 3 889 949 (22.17%) and newcomer the Economic Freedom Fighters was third with just over a million votes.-Sapa

Stop being ‘sour losers’ Gigaba tells EFF


Pretoria – ANC heavyweight Malusi Gigaba on Friday accused the EFF of being “sour losers”.

“They need to stop being sour losers and accept they only have one million voters and they have lost,” he told reporters at the IEC national results operations centre in Pretoria.

The minister of public works was responding to the Economic Freedom Fighters’ complaint about votes in Gauteng coming in slowly, allegedly after counting having been completed in the province.

Gigaba also accused opposition parties of trying to tarnish the image of the ruling African National Congress and that of the IEC by complaining about ballot boxes and papers that are being discovered in Gauteng.

“We expected the opposition parties to complain. This is all their fabrication so that they can turn around and blame the ANC and IEC. They need not tarnish the image of the IEC, the election was properly run,” he said.

Gigaba said the ANC, which surpassed the 10 million votes mark, was humbled by the faith and support shown by South Africans. He said they would repay the faith by hitting the ground running after the election.

“It is no longer about celebrating – hard work lies ahead. We need to hit the ground running,” he said.

The EFF is led by Julius Malema who was expelled from the ANC when he was president of its youth league.

Preliminary results showed that the EFF had 1 002 355 votes by 07:05 on Friday which could translate to at least 20 seats in Parliament.
– SAPA

Gauteng counting 78% complete


Pretoria – Counting of the Gauteng provincial results was 78.16% complete by 07:50 on Friday morning, according to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) website.

According to the early results on the website, the African National Congress had 1 748 579 (51.67%) votes, the Democratic Alliance 1 123 338 (33.2%) and the Economic Freedom Fighters had 333 148 (9.85%) votes.

The Freedom Front Plus had 46 191 votes, Inkatha Freedom Party 21 739, the African Christian Democratic Party 21 723 and Congress of the People 16 470 votes.

The United Democratic Movement had 15 077 votes, the National Freedom Party 13 898 and Agang SA 13 742 votes.

From the 2 647 voting districts in the province, counting at 2 069 had been completed. Total votes cast were 3 416 331 with 32 417 spoilt votes and 73.24% voter turnout.

Follow the election results LIVE.
– SAPA

DA support may increase


Pretoria – Support for the Democratic Alliance could increase by over five percent in the fifth national democratic elections with more than 90% of votes counted on Friday morning.

According to early results, the DA have 22.03% of the votes with 3 605 019 votes nationally in Wednesday’s elections after 94.09% of votes had been counted.

In the 2009 elections, the DA received 16.66% of votes, while it received 12.37% of the votes in the 2004 elections.

According to the results at the Electoral Commission of SA’s results centre in Pretoria on Friday morning, the African National Congress had 62.51% of the votes by 06:00 with 10 228 644 votes.

In the 2009 elections the ruling party won with 65.9% of the votes.

In 2004, the ANC won with 69.69% compared to the 66.35% in 1999 and the 62.65% in 1994.

On Friday, the early results indicated that the new kids on the block, the Economic Freedom Fighters were in third place with 5.95% of the votes and 973 369 votes.

The Inkatha Freedom Party had 404 692 (2.47%) votes according to Friday morning’s early results.

The National Freedom Party remained in fifth place with 1.64 percent of the national votes.

The results centre was quiet on Friday morning with tired party officials and media waiting for the results to be updated. Shortly after 05:30 police took sniffer dogs through the centre.

A total of 16 362 869 votes had been counted.
– SAPA

EFF reaches a million votes


Pretoria – New kids on the block the Economic Freedom Fighters cracked the million vote mark on Friday morning in their first national elections.

Early results from the Electoral Commission of SA results centre in Pretoria showed that Julius Malema’s party had 1 002 355 votes by 07:05 on Friday.

This meant the party had 6.06% of the national votes from Wednesday’s elections.

The votes could secure at least 20 seats in Parliament for the fledgling party. For a seat in Parliament, a political party needs about 47 000 votes.

With 94.61% of the votes counted, the African National Congress had 62.51% of the national votes with 10 333 002 votes while the Democratic Alliance remained in second place with 21.96% of the national votes. The DA had 3 629 890 votes.

The EFF was in third place.

Veteran party Inkatha Freedom Party had 405 802 (2.45%) votes, followed by their breakaway party the National Freedom Party with 269 712 (1.63%) votes.

Other debutant parties, such as Agang SA, the Workers and Socialist Party and the Patriotic Alliance have not done as well as Malema’s EFF.

Mamphela Ramphele’s Agang SA had only received 0.26% with 43 651 votes, which at this stage did not qualify the party for a seat in Parliament.

Kenny Kunene’s Patriotic Alliance received 12 710 votes (0.08%) and Wasp 7 497 (0.05%) of the votes.

A total of 16 529 857 votes have been counted.
– SAPA

South Africans celebrated voting through selfies – IEC CEO


IEC Chief Electoral Officer Mosotho Moepya says while selfies were not permitted in voting booths, most selfies show South Africans celebrating their votes.-Sapa

SABC predicts 23 EFF seats


Johannesburg – The EFF could secure 23 seats in Parliament in its debut election, according to the latest SABC predictions on Thursday night.

This would see the Economic Freedom Fighters get nearly three times the number of Inkatha Freedom Party seats, nine according to the SABC, down from 18.

The African National Congress would lose three seats to settle at 261, while the Democratic Alliance would hold 90, 23 more than it secured in the 2009 general elections.

The SABC foresaw the National Freedom Party, which did not contest the last elections, securing seven parliamentary seats.
– SAPA

Alexandra IEC centre set alight


Johannesburg – An Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) centre was set alight by residents of Alexandra, Gauteng police said on Friday.

A room in a community centre which was used by the IEC was burned by residents on Thursday night, Brigadier Neville Malila said.

There were people inside the centre at the time of the fire, but no injuries were reported.

Thirty-one people were arrested and are expected to appear in court soon.

Malila said the motive was unknown.
– SAPA

Turnout varies at provincial level


Pretoria – Voter turnout across South Africa’s nine provinces in Wednesday’s election varied depending on the province, according to results from Electoral Commission of SA’s national results operations centre in Pretoria on Friday morning.

While the overall voter turnout average for the country was 70.89% by 04:39, the lowest was in Limpopo, with 60.56%.

The province with the best voter turnout was KwaZulu-Natal, with 75.73%. It was followed by Gauteng (73.35%), Mpumalanga (72.85%), Western Cape (72.65%), Northern Cape (71.29%), Free State (70.67%), Eastern Cape (68.30%), and North West (66.30%).

A total of 25 383 361 people were registered to vote countrywide prior to election day.-Sapa

ANC stays ahead in Joburg


Pretoria – The ANC continued to maintain its lead in the City of Johannesburg early on Friday morning, as results from the municipality continued filtering in to the Electoral Commission of SA’s national results operations centre.

Looking at the provincial vote, the ruling party by 04:31 had 49.35% of the vote 267 625 votes, with the Democratic Alliance lying in second with 36.07% of the vote (195 641 votes).

The Economic Freedom Fighters held third place, with 9.12% (49 454 votes), while the IFP were a distant fourth with 1.31% (7 097).

A total of 542 441 votes had been counted, with voter turnout in the metro at 73.56%.-Sapa