Elections free and fair – observers

Local and international observers have called South Africa’s 8 May 2019 general elections free and fair, and have described it as “pivotal” for democracy in the country, the Government Communications Information System (GCIS) reported on Saturday.

“Both local and observer missions from the continent have described the 2019 National and Provincial elections as free and fair,” the report said.

This despite objections from at least 27 small and mainly new political parties, several of whom have called for a rerun of the elections and immediate action from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), according to media reports.

“The observers have described Wednesday’s Election Day as the most pivotal since the country’s dawn of democracy in 1994”, GCIS said.

GCIS news agency, SANews reported that the president of Maleta Motse Africa Community Authority, Micheal Kotsokoane, on Saturday said they the observers were happy with how the elections were conducted.

“The elections went well. We are satisfied with the manner in which the elections were conducted,” he said, adding however that in future the IEC must deploy more observers.

Chairperson of the African Marketing Global Empowerment and Projects, Alain Matundu, told SAnews they were pleased by the manner in which the elections were conducted.

“We congratulate the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for hosting these elections so well,” Matundu said.

CSIR Researcher, Dr Ndumiso Cingo, who earlier said they had confidence in the IEC said: “The IEC has a good track record of hosting the elections.

– African News Agency (ANA)