Polls have closed for pivotal elections that could see the ruling ANC party led by President Cyril Ramaphosa lose its majority. Authorities indicated a bumper turnout after long queues at voting centers.
Election staff began counting votes after polls closed at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night.
By law, South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) must announce the results within seven days.
However, IEC chief Cy Mamabolo said the result would most likely be announced before then.
“The commission is careful not to take long to get to a point where they declare results,” he told reporters.
“It is not the intention of the commission to take the whole seven days and have the country in suspense for that period.”
Mamabolo said he did not intend to have a “prolonged period” with no results.
“At a reasonable opportunity, the commission will announce the outcome of the elections balancing two imperatives,” Mamabolo said.
“The first imperative is accuracy, because we’ve got to be accurate in the record of the election result on the one hand. The second imperative is speed, because for as long as you don’t announce the results, the country is in a politically tenuous situation. The markets react to that and so on.”
News agencies AP and AFP predicted that results will be released over the weekend.
