OPINION: Time to applaud IEC achievement

This editorial was published in the Pretoria News on Thursday.

Pretoria - By the time you read this, voting will be over, counting will have continued through the night, and some results will be displayed on the giant board at the IEC’s national results centre at the Tshwane showgrounds.

Interest in Wednesday’s local government election was strong, with voters at polling stations across the country arriving early despite chilly conditions, and queuing peacefully for hours for the opportunity to vote.

The IEC did report problems here and there, such as in Vuwani where officials were barred from entering polling stations and had to set up tents as alternative venues, stations where the wind played havoc with the tents, and where officials had to step in to prevent intimidation of voters by political party representatives.

The worst fears of extreme violence were unfounded, and in the Marikana area and across Tshwane, there was relief that - a few tensions aside - voting went off peacefully.

Results flowed in overnight, but in some areas candidates and political parties wait anxiously today for the final tally of their towns and cities to be declared.

However, we believe it is not too early to declare the local government election of 2016 a success. In assessing how the election has gone, one must bear in mind the magnitude of the logistics of running an election of this kind.

Consider some of the figures: more than 26.3 million voters at more than 22 000 voting stations in places from city halls and farms, to remote rural valleys; with more than 70 million ballot papers to be delivered, handed out, collected and counted correctly, and around 200 000 officials who have worked day and night.

In many ways, this election was a record-breaker, and one must give credit to the IEC for it.

The enormity of the task is rarely realised, nor the efficiency of the staff who must deal quickly with any problems that arise in the voting period.

We take this opportunity, before the champagne is popped by the political parties, to applaud the IEC for another successful election.

Pretoria News