The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is satisfied with the number of residents who braved the chilly weather and joined winding queues at the 36 polling stations in the Makana district to vote.
IEC electoral project co-ordinator Mvuleni Mvula said yesterday that the turnout was satisfactory and that voting happened as planned.
He said that while other voting districts experienced problems such as the shortage of ballot papers in the Nelson Mandela Metro, there were "no shortage of supplies" at the sub-districts’ polling stations.
Despite still waiting for reports from a couple of stations, Mvula said the Rhodes Theatre had the biggest voter turnout and second to it was the Public Library Activities Room. People also arrived in droves at the new voting station in Vukani.
Mvula said political parties running information desks outside polling stations was allowed provided that it happened outside the boundary of a station and did not obstruct the movement of voters or influence them to vote one way or another.
However, he said the running of information desks is tricky to police "especially when other parties complain that a party is influencing voters."
Mvula said that the ANC was accused of influencing voters. However, further investigation revealed that voters had approached the desk voluntarily.
