Election was 'free and fair'

ELECTION NEWS - The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Saturday indicated it would "vigorously oppose legal action aimed at interfering in the conduct of the elections and finalisation and announcement of the results", as there was no basis in law to interdict the declaration of the election results.

This followed the arrest of 20 people - one of whom was a journalist - for voting more than once or attempting to do so.

The block of disgruntled smaller parties who called for a rerun and threatened legal action against the commission over what they called irregularities, then conceded that the election was free and fair. After the Statistician-General briefed the aggrieved parties during a lengthy party liaison committee meeting on Saturday, they accepted the declared election results.

This followed the furor by political parties over the probability that voters could vote more than once as the supposedly indelible ink seemed to wash off.

Ink washes off
The IEC Western Cape electoral officer, Courtney Sampson, was apprised of the personal experience of the Mossel Bay Advertiser news editor Nickey le Roux. The ink on her thumb washed off within minutes of her casting a special vote on Monday 6 May.

She immediately obtained legal advice on whether she could try to vote a second time in an attempt to test the system. She was strongly advised not to attempt this, as the mere attempt would constitute a criminal offence.

Sampson intimated that in his opinion there were people who "went to great extent to get rid of the ink, using all sorts of chemical substances - we do not quite know what point to prove".

Le Roux reported her personal experience of the indelible ink that washed off - without the use of chemicals - to political party representatives, the IEC officials and also to the provincial electoral officer.

Watch a video below.

Free and fair
Observers of the Electoral Code of Conduct Observer Commission and More than Peace,

an interfaith observer group, addressed the media at the last media conference to share their observations of the 2019 national and provincial election.

"The election was an exercise in trust, trust in the leadership that was elected, but also trust that the processes followed were above reproach," said Khalib Galant of More than Peace.

Watch a video below.