Over 5% of votes counted after LGE: IEC

The Electoral Commission (IEC) says over 5% of votes have been counted after polls for the Local Government Elections (LGE) closed on Wednesday night. The IEC said 12.5 million registered voters had cast their ballots by 5 pm on Wednesday. As results continue to trickle in from smaller wards around the country, the African National Congress (ANC) is the leading party so far with 19 seats, most of those in the Northern Cape. The Democratic Alliance (DA) has won seven, four in the Western Cape, two in the Northern Cape as well as Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape. The Patriotic Alliance (PA) has four wins so far from the party’s expected strongholds in the Northern and Western Cape. ActionSA has won Laingsburg in the Western Cape, while uMkhonto weSizwe (MKP) has one seat so far in uMzimkhulu, but is expected to win more in KwaZulu-Natal as counting continues. The South African Communist Party (SACP) is the surprise, lying 6th nationally, although the party has not won any wards as yet. WESTERN CAPE Vote counting has begun across the Western Cape’s municipalities and results are trickling in slowly. As at 2am on Thursday, about 3% of the voting districts had been declared. This translated to about 49 o623 voting districts having completed counting. About 15 of the 30 municipalities in the province were already showing progress in vote counting. The provincial IEC says the provisional results are expected on Friday. RELATED VIDEO | Western Cape Voting patterns and Personalities: