Gauteng has recorded the highest number of special votes during the two-day special voting period for the Local Government Elections.
Electoral Commission (IEC) Chairperson Mosotho Moepya says the province registered close to 265 ooo special votes.
KwaZulu-Natal followed with close to 209 000 votes, the Eastern Cape with more than 207 000, and Limpopo with close to 181 000.
Moepya says more than 1.4 million approved voters cast their ballots through special voting at stations and via home visits.
He says, “The commission is pleased to report that at the time of closing, 1 425 942 voters had recorded their special votes from both the 2nd and the 3rd of November. Out of these, 974 852 voted at voting stations and 451 090 voted through home visits.”
Moepya says the IEC successfully overcame the challenge of reprinting 33 million ballot papers following a Constitutional Court ruling that affected dozens of municipalities.
The ruling reinstated 181 African National Congress (ANC) candidates, with the IEC extending similar relief to 32 other parties.
This required 33 million ballot papers to be reprinted.
He says the operation required the support of printers, paper suppliers and election staff working under significant pressure.
Moepya says, “The challenge we dealt with in the reprinting of ballot papers was indeed enormous; there is no hiding that issue. The whole process of reprinting 33 million ballot papers was extremely difficult, but why was it extremely difficult and yet the Electoral Commission would choose to do it? It is the only way we know to ensure that these elections would be free, fair and would be credible.”
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