{"id":426380,"date":"2011-05-18T13:47:35","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T13:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/18\/voting-in-key-elections-begins-smoothly\/"},"modified":"2011-05-18T13:47:35","modified_gmt":"2011-05-18T13:47:35","slug":"voting-in-key-elections-begins-smoothly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/18\/voting-in-key-elections-begins-smoothly\/","title":{"rendered":"Voting in Key Elections Begins Smoothly"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BuaNews<\/a> (Tshwane)<\/p>\n

18 May 2011<\/p>\n

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Pretoria \u2014 Despite a few operational glitches, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said the country’s Local Government Elections got off to a smooth start on Wednesday with more than 95 percent of voting stations having opened on time.<\/p>\n

Officials blamed the late delivery of voting material such as ballot papers and technical problems at those stations that did not open by 7am but added that all had been operational by midday.<\/p>\n

Pansy Tlakula, the IEC’s Chief Electoral Officer, also confirmed that one voting station was burned down at an informal settlement in Bloemfontein leading to delays in the voting process. The incident occurred on Tuesday night and details were still sketchy. “I am happy to say that things were sorted at that voting station and our service providers were able to erect another station and voting got off smoothly there,” Tlakula said.<\/p>\n

There were also reports of protest marches outside voting stations in the North West, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape while rains in Limpopo also caused a few delays in the voting. “These challenges and other minor glitches had led to long queues but our officials are busy sorting issues out to ensure voting takes place smoothly…we are happy with the processes so far,” said Tlakula. A library was also burned down in Limpopo, but Tlakula said it was not a voting station.<\/p>\n

She also dismissed reports that some voting stations had ran out of ballot papers, adding that the IEC had printed enough ballot papers to cater for every voter.<\/p>\n

“What happened is that where problems were experienced the ballot papers were at our warehouses there had been a problem of distribution and we have sorted that out, we do not have any shortage of ballot papers”.<\/p>\n

The IEC urged South Africans to visit their voting stations long before the closing time to avoid long queues.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, politicians continued to arrive at the results centre in Pretoria where a hive of activity was expected as the day progressed. Political heavy weights including President Jacob Zuma were expected to visit the centre when the IEC announces the final results expected at the weekend.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Zuma cast his vote in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, while his deputy Kgalema Montlanthe voted in Hatfield, Pretoria.<\/p>\n

Officials expected the first batch of results to come in late on Wednesday night to early Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

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