Central SA
IEC pleased with start of elections across Mangaung Metro─── LUCKY NKUYANE 09:30 Wed, 19 Jul 2023
The Free State IEC said voting stations across Mangaung Metro Municipality opened on Wednesday morning 19 July 2023, without incident.
She said things got off to a smooth start with no incident reported. Rasengane said they are expecting almost 30,000 voters to cast their ballots. She added that yesterday the IEC held special votes where 2299 people cast their votes for different political parties in the metro during home and station visits.
"We are looking forward to closing, which is 9 o'clock tonight and after that, we will then start counting both the ballots that were cast yesterday and the ones for today."
Political parties, including the EFF, ANC, DA, and Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats (AASD), are contesting the by-election.
ALSO READ: Troubled Mangaung Metro to hold by-elections
The by-election in four different wards in the troubled metro follows the expulsion of eight ANC ward councillors in March.
ALSO READ – Breaking News: ANC expells eight Mangaung Councilors - VIDEO
The four wards include Thaba Nchu, Botshabelo, Wepener, and Bloemfontein.
The ailing metro is without a full-time mayor but has an acting mayor Gregory Nthatisi from the ANC.
ALSO READ: ANC's Nthatisi elected as acting mayor of Mangaung
The ANC's Nthatisi was elected as acting mayor of Mangaung in April 2022.
