Nine-voter station first to the post

A WARD with nine registered voters recorded the first results of the local government elections last night

In Mohlakeng, Randfontein on the West Rand, the ANC polled four votes against the DA's three in a ward where seven of the nine registered voters cast their ballot.

The elections ended as smoothly as they started with a few hiccups reported in some spots.

The fourth post-apartheid local municipal elections officially ended when voting stations closed at 7pm. IEC CEO Pansy Tlakula said last night polling stations would stay open until all the voters that were within the parameters of polling stations at 7pm had voted.

The IEC said throughout the day that voting was going smoothly overall, with all but one of the 20,859 voting stations open by 9.30am.

Glitches occurred at some places, with the main issues being too few or faulty ID scanners, voting stations not opening on time, reports of intimidation and the burning down of an election tent at a ward outside Bloemfontein.

All eyes were on the DA-led Cape Town and the closely contested Nelson Mandela Bay in Eastern Cape, while the IFP battled it out with its breakaway party, the National Freedom Party, in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal.

Three people - two IFP and one NFP - were arrested in Ulundi for intimidation, while elsewhere in the province five people were arrested for allegedly attacking an ANC ward candidate in KwaMashu, Durban.