The IEC has just announced that the results of the Western Cape’s voting will be announced at midday on Friday.
IEC provincial chairperson Courtney Sampson said all voting and counting was completed in the province at 10H00 this morning.
78% of the votes in the province have been counted, captured and audited.
So far, 18 municipalities’ votes have been counted, captured and audited.
Seven are outstanding and they are Stellenbosch, Breede Valley, George, Bitou, Knysna, City of Cape Town and Draakenstein.
The results in those seven municipalities are in the process of being counted, captured and audited.
Sampson said in most of the outstanding municipalities, auditors are dealing with one single issue and expressed the intent that these will all be sorted by the end of Thursday.
“We are faced with a choice to let our staff, who are already tired and half asleep, push through or do we let them rest, “said Sampson.
Sampson said the last process is far too important and they will not let fatigue result in mistakes creeping in.
“We want our staff to be able to answer the questions of the auditors to the best of their ability and we want them to do the right thing,” he said.
So far the ANC is leading the national race with 3 659 210 votes and the DA in second place on 1 527 22 and the EFF in third place on 599 944 votes.
While the provincial results are expected at noon tomorrow, indications are that the national results will be released at 16H00 on saturday afternoon from the IEC headquarters in Pretoria.
Weekend Argus