The Independent Electoral Commission has completed its task of counting the votes cast in the 2019 national elections. The ruling party, the ANC claimed 57.5% of the count – though this reflects its worst performance in any national election. This was followed by the DA with 20.8% of the vote and the EFF with 10.8% of the vote. Smaller parties that made waves in the election include the IFP, the Freedom Front Plus, the ACDP and the UDM, all of whom will be returning to parliament this year. There were also a few parties who made their debut in the elections, and managed to secure at least some representation in parliament. This includes GOOD, led by former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille, as well as the African Transformation Movement, headed up by former government spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi. The graph below outlines the final national results. While these figures represent the results of 100% of the votes counted by the IEC, the body did announce that over 1,000 voting stations would be audited amid claims of irregularities. No date has been provided for when the audits will take place or be completed. Provincial results Across the provinces, the ANC managed to secure an outright majority in almost all the regions, with the only exception being the Western Cape, where the DA maintained its majority. The party almost lost its majority in Gauteng, briefly dropping below 50% during the count, before ending on 50.19%. The graphs below outline the provincial results, showing the leading party and its closest competitors. The ANC secured a two-thirds majority in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, and got over 50% of the vote in the Free State, Northern Cape and KwaZulu Natal. The EFF took over as the official opposition in three provinces, namely Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West. The IFP is the official opposition in KwaZulu Natal, and the DA is the official opposition in the rest (excluding the Western Cape, where the DA leads and the ANC is the official opposition). Read: Vote counting almost complete: here are the results<doc-sep>Citizen reporter and ANA Follow the action of Wednesday's big polls to decide who governs the country and each of its nine provinces for the next five years. The final national numbers have all come in. You can read that report here. The ANC has managed to just cling to an outright majority in Gauteng with 50.19%. The DA will once again be the official opposition, with the EFF improving its share of the vote to take third. Earlier: The IEC has sent out an advisory to announce that elections will be announced this evening at 6pm-7pm. The commission says it will not accede to the deadline of 27 parties who have taken legal action against the commission over what they say are irregularities in the voting process, deeming it “not fair and free”. The parties demanded an independent auditor to be appointed by 11am. This has not happened, with the IEC saying this is not a statutory requirement in law. The IEC’s chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, said on Saturday that even if a few people had engaged in criminal conduct to vote or attempt to vote more than once, that would not have been enough to truly influence the results on a “great scale” and would not have “impugned” the “integrity of the results”. They would oppose any urgent interdict application, Mamabolo said. “The commission is disappointed by the conduct of some parties which have breached the Code of Conduct and disrupted the orderly operations within the National Results Centre,” said the IEC’s statement. Earlier yesterday commissioner Nomsa Masuku said the parties could take any action they wished after they promised legal action. The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which was part of the observer missions, had also said the concerns were not substantial enough, but if the parties felt strongly about the concerns, they could raise them with the courts. The IEC said they would receive a list of 1,020 voting stations from the Statistician-General “which will form the sample for an independent technical assurance process that looks at the voting”. The IEC also received questions on the arrests made for alleged double voting, as deputy police commissioner Fannie Masemola said the people that were arrested had not voted but had attempted to. He said “there are other people on social media still claiming to have voted more than once, we are still looking for them”. “We are pleading with you to assist us in identifying them so that we can have more work with them.” Commissioner Janet Love said “in the electoral act it is a crime to attempt to vote more than once.” “We have received info from people and parties about people identified for having done that. Love said the mere attempt to have done so, whether you succeeded in doing so or not, was punishable. “The Electoral Commission would like to thank the South African Police Services for the rapid way in which they have acted against voters alleged to have voted twice or attempted to vote more than once.” Count almost done Meanwhile, it is clear the ANC has won the national majority vote with most of the total number of ballots cast, taking 57.5%. While they are significantly down from the 62.15% they won in the last election, it is a solid majority and a strong mandate for Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency. The ANC also just crept over the 10 million votes mark on Saturday morning. The party was followed in the results by the DA, which dropped, and the EFF, who grew significantly from last election’s 6.35% to grab nearly 11% of the national vote. The IFP, which gained about 3.38% of the vote, jumped from the 2.4% it gained in 2014. With most of the votes counted in Gauteng, the ANC looks poised to just have enough for a majority win. The ANC also won all the provinces except the Western Cape, where it is the opposition again. The DA retained its Western Cape majority, and is the opposition again in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State and Gauteng, while the EFF is the opposition in Limpopo and North West yet again, while taking that role from the DA in Mpumalanga. The IFP has regained its status as the official opposition in KwaZulu-Natal, snatching it from the DA. The election has seen both of South Africa’s largest parties losing ground to smaller, more established parties, with numerous new parties making little to no impact on the national mindset. All of the EFF, IFP, FF+ and ACDP saw gains as some disenfranchised voters chose to cast their votes away from the previous favourites. The election can also be considered a good one for The African Transformation Movement (ATM) and Patricia De Lille’s newly established GOOD party, who each secured enough votes for seats in parliament. Earlier: The Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) has written to protesting political parties for breaching the code of conduct after they launched a protest at the national operations centre over grievances over electoral processes. The commission briefed media on developments in vote counting on Friday evening. “The commission is disappointed by the conduct of some parties which have breached the Code of Conduct and disrupted the orderly operations within the National Results Centre,” IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo said. More than 30 smaller political parties on Thursday raised their objections with the IEC over alleged electoral irregularities in Wednesday’s general election, citing certain instances of double voting at voting stations. They threatened to interdict the election and its results if the IEC does not appoint an independent auditor by 11am on Saturday. IEC Commissioner Janet Love said the matter has since been handed over to lawyers and was sub judice. At least 97,33 percent of votes had been counted late Friday. Mamabolo said the outstanding 779 outstanding voting stations could finish by midnight. At least 433 of the outstanding voting stations are in Gauteng. ”We will work through the night today and make sure we do not go to bed without concluding the process. This has been a mammoth responsibility, however it gives us pleasure as the commission that we are about to conclude what the constitution demands from us,” Mamabolo said. On arrests linked to voting irregularities, police deputy commissioner Fannie Masemola said 22 people were arrested for attempting to vote twice. They included two brothers in Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal who, although they still had indelible ink on their thumbs, demanded that they be allowed to vote again. Police were called in and they were arrested. “It is important to note that all had not voted a second time, they attempted to do so and were discovered and arrested,” Masemola said. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to arrive at the results centre at 6pm on Saturday. Earlier: Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said at a media briefing at the IEC results centre in Pretoria that Gauteng still has 433 voting districts to conclude, but that counting is expected to be finished at midnight. The IEC’s Glen Mashinini added that their plan is to declare the results as soon as they can. The IEC’s lawyers are still busy studying the legal challenge launched by 25 smaller parties, who have threatened to interdict the election and its results. Earlier: A group of 25 disgruntled smaller parties have threatened to interdict the election and its results if the IEC does not appoint an independent auditor by 11am on Saturday. The final results are meant to be announced tomorrow, but the group plans to interdict them if necessary. As many as 35 parties have expressed their unhappiness with the electoral process. Earlier: The police have announced that a total of 24 people have now been arrested in the so-called double voting scandal that has plagued these elections. The voting count is now heading towards being 95% complete. A video showing two people, a journalist and a woman, were arrested after footage was posted claiming they had cast votes more than once, the police statement says. “On the day of the elections, Etienne Mare (52) posted a video claiming that he was on his way to vote for a second time after hearing from Malinda Halloway (57) that she had been ‘able to do so herself’. “The Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (JOINTS), in a statement yesterday, promised that all of the social media postings in which people claimed to have voted more than once will be investigated and culprits brought to book,” said spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo. “Today, members for the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga were able to track down the suspects and arrested them. Both Mare and Halloway appeared in the Barberton Magistrates Court today on charges of contravening Section 88 (d) Voting more than once, Section 89 (i)(a) Intentional making a false statement, alt fraud and Section 90(2)(a) Infringement of secrecy. “The arrest of these two suspects brings the total to 24 the number of suspects arrested for the alleged contravention of Electrate Act pertaining to attempted double votes and double votes. These 24 include 17 from Danhauser, 2 from Hluhluwe, one from Izingolweni, one from Sawoti one from Douglasdale and now the two from Barberton.” They said alleged “double votes” were still under investigation by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). “We request anyone with information on such contrventions to contact our Crime Stop number 08600 10111. Callers may remain anonymous and all information will be treated with strictest confidence.” More: The African National Congress on Friday afternoon cleared the 50 percent mark in Gauteng with voting still incomplete but looked to have a clear majority within their reach in the country’s economic heartland. The party was lying at 50.57 percent in Gauteng late on Friday afternoon. The governing party received 1,571,329 votes with 75.39 percent of votes counted in the province. ANC was followed by the Democratic Alliance at 27.32 percent and the Economic Freedom Fighters at 14.34 percent. The Freedom Front Plus has made further inroads into the hotly contested economic hub, garnering 112,781 votes and taking the fourth place spot after the EFF. In the 2014 elections, the FF Plus received 58,122 votes or 1.27 percent of votes in the province. Earlier: Counting has been completed in Mpumalanga, where the ANC won decisively with 70.58% of the vote. The EFF is now the party’s official opposition with 12.79% of the vote, while the DA has descended to third place with 9.77%. Earlier: Over 90% of the results in the 2019 elections are now in, with the ANC at 57.41% nationally, followed by the DA at 20.98% and the EFF at 10.37%. In Gauteng, the ANC has regained their 50% majority, following their share of the vote dropping below this mark earlier today. The DA has attained 27.84% in the province at this point with the EFF on 14.28%. Though the official results will only be announced by the Independent Electoral Commission on Saturday, preliminary announcements indicate that the Democratic Alliance has retained the Western Cape. The provincial election board for the Western Cape had the DA at 55%, followed by the ANC at 28,5% and the EFF at 4%. The ANC, meanwhile, has taken both the North West and the Northern Cape. In the North West they achieved 61.87% of the vote, with the EFF in at second with 18.64% and the DA at third with 11.18%. In the Northern Cape they achieved 57.54%, with the DA second at 25.51% and the EFF third with 9.71%. Earlier: ANC secretary General Ace Magashule has told journalist Clement Manyathela party president Cyril Ramaphosa can’t take credit for the party’s win. When asked if he agreed with people that Ramaphosa helped the party, his response was: “He is not candidate premier, it’s not about individual, it’s about ANC.” Earlier: The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has declared the 2019 South African Elections all clear. This follows the SADC alongside the African Union (AU) releasing their preliminary reports after observing the elections. A representative of the observer mission said the elections went well, apart from some logistical challenges in certain voting stations. Officials representing countries including Angola, Mozambique, Botswana and Lesotho have acted as observers in the elections.<doc-sep>
IEC to brief SA on 2019 election results While the ANC won the 6th general elections with a comfortable majority, this was the party’s worst performance since the first free election in 1994. JOHANNESBURG - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is expected to officially announce the total 2019 election results captured. President Cyril Ramaphosa was set to address the country at the National Operations Results Centre on Saturday evening. Vote counting was completed on Saturday afternoon, with the African National Congress (ANC) winning 2019’s general election and retained its majority in the country with 57.5%. While the ANC won the 6th general elections with a comfortable majority, this was the party’s worst performance since the first free election in 1994. The ANC had always won with 60% and above vote in the national elections. ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said the party took this as a sign that people wanted a clean party that would act and tackle corruption. The Democratic Alliance (DA) retained its position as the official opposition, but it was a bittersweet victory as the party had gone down from 22% in the 2014 election to 20.7%. Julius Malema’s red berets were the biggest gainers, increasing their support to over 10%. WATCH: IEC briefs the media on the final leg of the 2019 national elections PARLIAMENT Several new political parties are preparing to head to Parliament, while some will not make a return. A record of 48 political parties contested 2019’s national elections, 19 of which were new players. So, which of these new bees will form part of the sixth parliament and which of the old ones won’t be making a return? New players, Patricia de Lille’s party, Good, is in and so is Mzwanele Manyi’s African Transformation Movement. Parties like Azanian People's Organisation, which only managed to get just over 12,000 votes and AgangSA, which received 13,800 votes, won’t be returning to Parliament. Meanwhile, parties like the ANC and the DA will obviously be in the National Assembly, but with a reduced number of seats. It’s the EFF and the Freedom Front Plus that have increased their majority, meaning more seats and more talking time for them in the National Assembly. ANC THANKS MOTLANTHE AND MBEKI The ANC in Gauteng gave former presidents Kgalema Motlanthe and Thabo Mbeki credit for helping the party campaign. ANC deputy provincial chairperson Panyaza Lesufi said the involvement of the former leaders ensured that the party won the most critical province. The party received over 2 million votes in Gauteng. He said they should be credited for their contributions. “We also want to thank Motlanthe and Mbeki. They really took a brave stance to say we’re on the side of the ANC.” On Friday, the party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule said individuals shouldn’t take credit for the party’s victory after ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula told journalists that President Cyril Ramaphosa helped the party clinch a win in one of the hotly contested polls. He said the victory should be attributed to the entire movement because it’s not about individuals. At the same time, despite failing to get a combined two percent of the vote, some smaller parties threatened to go to court over allegations of voter fraud during these elections.