The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has secured 23,696 voting stations ahead of the November 4 local government elections, including 33 mobile stations, as preparations for polling day continue.

IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the figure could still change slightly as the commission finalises lease agreements for some sites. Of the 23,696 stations secured, 22,668 are permanent, 995 are temporary and 33 are mobile voting stations.

The IEC’s preparations come less than two months before South Africans head to the polls to elect new local government representatives. The commission said it was also making progress with the recruitment and training of election officials ahead of the elections. A total of 23,696 presiding officers and 29,964 deputy presiding officers are being recruited, with more than half recruited to date and training under way.

Mamabolo said the commission remained committed to ensuring that the elections were administered in a manner that was “credible, transparent, inclusive and compliant with the law”.

The IEC said the final list of voting stations would enable it to continue with its preparations for polling day, while the number of stations could be adjusted slightly as outstanding lease agreements were concluded.

The IEC is also continuing work on its election results system. It has engaged external independent auditors to validate key controls, processes and system functionality, while an independent quality assurance testing process is scheduled to run for three weeks.

Political parties would have access to the results system from October 5 to 12 to test it using their preferred experts.

First published by IOL