The DA celebrated hitting the two million votes mark on Friday, with federal leader Helen Zille doing a bit of a bum jive at the DA table at the IEC results centre in Midrand.
With just over 64% of voting districts accounted for, the party stood at 2.1 million votes, the ANC at 3.8 million, the MK Party at 1.1 million and the EFF at 882 179.
DA leader John Steenhuisen has become yet another leader to slam the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for its mishandling of the elections.
This comes as the IEC admitted some of its systems, including the voter management devices, failed to work on the day of the elections, resulting in long queues and delays in the processing of voters and the counting of votes.
Steenhuisen, who visited the results centre on Friday morning at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, said there was no excuse, including reports of under-funding, that could be used to shield the IEC from taking responsibility for its failure to conduct free and fair general elections. He said this should be the last time the IEC is allowed to fail in its mandate to conduct elections in a free and fair manner as per its mandate.
“We are all having to do what we can with the minimal resources we have. So, the IEC has no excuse for the way it has handled the elections.”
On the issue of the performance of the IEC and it’s handling of the elections amid long lines and failure of the VMD machines, Steenhuisen said the IEC must be held accountable.
“No, we are not happy with the IEC. We already have a legal team looking at this matter for the shambolic manner in which the IEC handled the elections. In 2021, the IEC’s ineptitude cost us Nelson Mandela Bay. This time it has cost us at least 1% due to the long queues and failure of the VMD machines. We saw long queues and people having to wait up to eight hours to cast their votes. We will not let this rest and the IEC must account,” he said.
With some members of the Multi-Party Charter, including ActionSA, having performed badly at the elections, Steenhuisen said all members of the charter must sit down and decide on a way forward.
Members of the charter also include the IFP, ACD, Freedom Front Plus and others.
“As the Multi-Party Charter, we need to sit down and discuss what are we going to do with our individual votes after the elections. We need to sit as leaders of the charter and decide maturely what is the best option for South Africa and how do we prevent the radical policies of the MK Party and the EFF,” he said.
Steenhuisen denied suggestions that the DA performed poorly in the elections after clicking the two million voter mark with just over 60% of the voting districts counted, without the inclusion of the metros. He said the biggest loser in the elections was the ANC and not the DA
“The DA is not the biggest loser. If you look at the Patriotic Alliance, the PA nibbled a bit from the DA, but the bulk of the votes are from the ANC. I think it is clear that the Coloured voters decided to vote for the DA because of the good work of the DA and the 60 000 jobs we created last year, as well as the clean and accountable DA government," he said.
The Star