The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says all 23 293 voting stations have concluded their counting of ballots processes, with a few voting stations only concluding their counting of ballots around 3pm on Thursday.
This was said by IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo on Thursday during a media briefing at the commission’s national results operation centre at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg.
Last ballot cast on Thursday
Mamabolo said the last ballot of the 2024 general national and provincial elections was cast in the early hours of Thursday morning at the Arcadia Swimbad voting station in Tshwane, Gauteng.
He said the commission assisted all voters that were in the queue by 9pm on Wednesday.
Mamabolo said the first result was announced just after midnight on Thursday; this was in a voting district in the Winnie Madikizela Mandela Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
“For all intents and purposes, counting procedures have been concluded, with only a few voting stations reported to still be counting at 3pm. The process of result compilation entails ensuring accuracy and validation of the results.
“This process involves scanning each result slip to create an image of the result, double blind capture of each result slip, and auditing of each result slip by independent auditors. The result system was audited externally, and parties had occasion to also audit,” said Mamabolo.
Mamabolo said by 4pm, results had been concluded for 22,6% of the 23 292 voting districts, which represents 2,3 million votes cast.
Grateful to voters
“The Electoral Commission thanks the real heroes of the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (NPE2024). They are South Africans who stood in the queues and electoral staff who worked tirelessly to process the votes. The commitment and patience shown by the voters and electoral staff demonstrate their commitment to our electoral democracy.
“While this process is proceeding well, it is important to reflect that historically, in the first 24 hours, 80% of the results would have been finalised. However, the process in the NPE2024 has been slowed down by the third ballot, particularly in the metropolitan areas.
“According to the Electoral Act, the commission has seven days within which to announce the results. We have always been able to declare and announce the results well within this period and will endeavour to do so with these elections,” said Mamabolo.
By 5:33pm on Thursday, the ANC was leading the national vote by 43,41%, followed by the DA at 24,70%, the EFF at 8,86%, the MK Party at 8,14% and the Patriotic Alliance at 4,06%.
The IEC said 27 782 477 people registered to vote.
