Pretoria - As votes continued to trickle in at the Electoral Commission’s National Results Operation Centre in Tshwane on Thursday morning, IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said he was confident his party would regain its spot in the top four.
Hlengwa was one of several politicians who have been keenly watching the national results board at the ROC as counted votes came from across the country.
In 2014 the IFP secured 2.40%, securing the fourth spot after the ANC, DA and the EFF.
By 11am, the IFP was at 1.71%, behind the Freedom Front Plus and the three major political parties, with 31.82% of the vote counting completed.
“It is still in the very early stages of the election. You will recall that the IFP will garner a lot of votes in the rural areas and they take longer to come in. We are optimistic that the trajectory is going to improve,” Hlengwa said.
Hlengwa said the IFP was unhappy with how the elections unfolded and how faulty IEC scanners allowed people to vote more than once, adding that the party has now lodged disputes with the IEC.
He said one of the complaints lodged was one of an ANC party agent who allegedly voted twice in Mpendle, outside of Pietermaritzburg.
“As far as the activities of yesterday are concerned, the fundamental issue is that the zipzip machine is becoming an untrusted device as part of the check and balances. There are people who have voted twice in in Impendle in KwaZulu-Natal for an example.
“We have verified that to have been the case and our structures in Mgungundlovu have accordingly filed an objection,” he said.