DA lodges Ekurhuleni objection

"What has happened to the ward ballots?" DA leader Helen Zille asked on Friday after the party lodged an objection with the IEC over voting in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, which it lost to the ANC by 23 votes.

According to the DA a polling station at Margeret Maltman Creche (KwaThema) allegedly stayed open for half an hour longer, and at a voting station at Dalview Primary School in Brakpan, 200 more proportional votes were allegedly counted than ward votes.

"...Two hundred fewer ward ballots compared to proportional ballots? That's very strange," Zille said.

"What happened to the ward ballots?"

Zille said if this hadn't happened, the Democratic Alliance would have won in Ekurhuleni.

"There would have been a different outcome."

The objection was lodged on Thursday night, said Mike Moriarty, a senior representative on the party's liason committee at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

He said an affidavit from the DA's party agent was received earlier on Wednesday, and "this was his version of the facts".

The DA was seeking a recount of the votes.

"This is enough to cause a re-election," Moriarty said, adding that if the IEC found no discrepancies, the party may go to an electoral court.

"We may well do so. We will have to make decisions based on the outcome [of the objection]."

He said the IEC would in the meantime see if the complaint had any substance. The presiding officers at the voting stations would be interviewed. One of the questions to be answered was if voters were issued with ward ballots.

If there was a finding in the DA's favour the ANC stood to lose ward seats, Moriarty said.

When asked if DA supporters had been educated on the fact that voters should be given two ballots at a local government election, Zille said: "We do that all that all the time."