Thousands of voters experienced frustration on election day with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) facing technical issues.
In many voting stations, long queues were the order of the day, with some taking more than six hours to cast their votes.
By 21:00, the usual voting cut-off time, scores of people had not yet been able to cast their votes. Even after 22:00, numerous people were still waiting in line to cast their ballots across thousands of voting districts. Technical glitches were believed to be the reason for the slow voting process in many districts.
There were concerns that Wednesday’s election could spill over to the next day but IEC rubbished the claims.
Sy Mamabolo, the commissioner of the IEC, stated that there would be no provision for a second day of voting. He also mentioned that in past elections, results would come in around 1 am, but because of glitches, it might take longer.
Election Day won’t go on until Thursday, says IEC
“Once the captured results have been audited and there are no exceptions related to the result, you will begin to see the votes reflecting on the leaderboard,” he said.
Voters took to social media to vent their frustration on IEC for ruining their voting day.
@KekeMokoena14 wrote: “Seems like in some areas ppl will be voting all night long #ElectionDay.”
@TshepoMthimkulu wrote: “I don’t want to criticise The IEC but shame people are complaining. They are frustrated and angry. The IEC was just ill-prepared for the day. It’s a shame.”
It seems like the IEC was taken by surprise by the turnout during the election day. Chaos reportedly erupted at the University of Witwatersrand with students cutting queues and forcefully demanding to cast their votes.
