21 April 2009

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo jetted into KZN on Monday morning to join a team of observers which would oversee the elections on Wednesday.

He said South Africa should be praised for its achievements in the past 15 years. Some countries had been holding elections for two centuries and had not yet managed to perfect the operation.

"Other people will say all elections are not without any problems. There (has been) no absolutely perfect election anywhere in the world so far."

Obasanjo, formerly a staunch ally of deposed South African president Thabo Mbeki, is part of a contingent of 2 000 observers from home and abroad who will watch proceedings in the province to ensure that they are free and fair.

He toured the IEC's special results centre in Durban on Monday and greeted and joked with observers from other organisations. The retired army general said he was not in the country as a judge, but merely to observe the process.

Obasanjo will lead an observer mission under the auspices of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Accord).

Accord has a mandate from the KZN legislature to mount an African election violence observer mission in conjunction with the Nairobi Peace Initiative and the West Africa Network for Peace. Together they form the African Alliance for Peace Initiative, under Obasanjo's leadership.

"Democracy should not be an exception in Africa, but normality. Elections are a period when people feel a sense of belonging to their country. Elections are an adequate reflection of the will of the people," he said.

While in the country, Obasanjo would meet President Kgalema Motlanthe, ANC president Jacob Zuma, his IFP counterpart Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and Bam.

Obasanjo was recently appointed special envoy by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo where he has held separate meetings with DRC President Joseph Kabila and rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.

The outcome of Wednesday's elections will be known any time from Saturday to Wednesday next week, with the Independent Electoral Commission expecting a turnout as high as 80 percent of more than 23 million registered voters.

This means that 18,5 million people are expected to vote.

More than 86 000 people were expected to finish casting special votes today. They include security personnel, who will be on duty on Wednesday, pregnant women, disabled and infirm people, and electoral staff.

IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam said her organisation was ready for a huge turnout.

"There is certainly a lot of interest from national and international elections observers, and we think there will be about 80 percent voter turnout. This is because of the number of people who registered to vote. That was a sign that people are interested. The enthusiasm of people who've never voted was higher, and this we have seen with the young voters.

Security arrangements had been made with Intelligence Minister Siyabonga Cwele and Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa. Police had been deployed and there would be two police officers at each polling station.

Ballot papers would be counted at voting stations before information was relayed to the national results centre in Pretoria, where it would be collated.

"Vote counting will be manual, and election observers and party agents will be there at the voting stations," Bam said.

"All ballots will be counted, along with those cast abroad and all the special votes from April 23."

IEC chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula said the final results would be announced sometime between April 25 and 29.

"We cannot announce the results within two days of an election," said Tlakula. "This is to give political parties an opportunity to lodge objections."