2019 Elections: South Africa kicks off sixth peaceful national election; sustaining democracy for 25 years By Ferial Haffajee ferialhaffajee
By the time voting got under way on Wednesday morning, the biggest news was that an IEC tent had been stolen in the Free State. Of course, there were examples of voting stations that did not open on time and here and there, there was an allegation of skulduggery by a political leader.
There are 48 political parties contesting the polls this year, up 300% from the number that did so in 1999. This tells the story of a democracy festival with voters presented with a healthy smorgasbord of options to choose who will represent them. The South African political landscape is settling into a three- party system with this election largely being one among the ANC, DA and the EFF which polls suggest will scoop up between 80% and 90% of all available votes today.
The IEC is managing over 28,000 voting stations and it has overseen the printing of 50-million ballot papers of an extraordinary length. Its staff have put in place 220,000 ballot boxes, set up 44,529 voting booths and distributed 56,255 stationery packs. We should all say “”. It is little wonder that the institution is on call to electoral agencies across the world to share its expertise.
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