South Africa’s electoral body is upbeat that measures it has put in place will ensure that Monday’s local government elections will be without major glitches.
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Glen Mashinini said the commission was confident that all preparations “are in place for us to achieve free, fair and, in the context of COVID-19, safe elections in our 2021 municipal elections.”
“The commission is further satisfied that it has done everything in its powers to prepare for these elections which are highly contested given the number of candidates and parties which are contesting,” Mashinini said.
More than 26 million registered voters are flocking to the 23,000 polling stations nationwide to elect councillors in municipal elections being held on Monday.
The ruling African National Congress and other political parties spent the last eight weeks campaigning for seats in the municipalities, winding up their campaigns on Sunday
The voters have 14 hours to accomplish their task to elect 95,000 candidates to fill 257 municipal councils by the time the polls stations shut down for business at 2100 GMT Monday evening.
The weekend saw the voting of more than 83% of special votes of essential workers cast their ballots in readiness for their participation in the exercise, the IEC said on Monday.
Voters in metropolitan municipalities will receive two ballot papers – one for their ward candidate and another for their political party, the IEC said.
And those in local municipalities, voters would receive a third ballot paper to select representatives for their District Councils, it added.
The voter’s roll has a more youthful look this year with those aged between the ages of 20 and 39 accounting for 41% of the roll, according to the IEC.
NM/jn/APA