South Africa's progress of the fourth democratic elections proceeded smoothly and orderly despite the cold weather.
Cheerful voters braved a cold snap in South Africa's most fluid and unpredictable post-apartheid elections on Wednesday, with KwaZulu-Natal province the only to report major problems.
It had received reports that 19,121 of the 19,726 voting stations opened on time, the South African Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.
IEC Chief Electoral Officer Pansy Tlakula said most of those which did not open were temporary stations affected by problems like the weather. She said the elections were characterized by a "peaceful, tranquil and harmonious" atmosphere. "A carnival mood is prevailing across the country."
"It's been calm and peaceful at the polling stations we have visited so far. it seems the youth have turned up in large numbers, which is very encouraging for democracy," said Balefi Tsie, head of the South African Development Community (SADC)'s Electoral Commission Forum (ECF).
"We wanted to be there when the stations opened to make sure the ballot boxes were empty and all was in order," he said.
The observers were at polling stations 20 minutes before South Africans began casting their ballots and inking their fingers at 7:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT).
South African political party representatives at the IEC's center in Pretoria were mostly happy with the progress of voting.
"We are very happy so far, there have been no incident reports and there are very few stations still unopened," said Beattie Hofmeyr, the ruling party African National Congress (ANC) representative.
The Democratic Alliance councillor Mike Moriarty said: "The vast majority of stations are working properly."
The Congress of the People representative Juli Killian said there was an "absolute commitment to impartiality" in the IEC's top structures.
However she said that at times this commitment did not filter down to the staff on the ground.
"The challenge for them is to get the district voting officials to support that commitment," she said, adding that the party had received reports of ANC branding at some polling stations.
The United Democratic Movement secretary general Humphrey Nobongoza said his party had received reports that "ballot papers were flying all around" in Cala, Eastern Cape.
"The matter is of serious concern. It means there is a lack of control. It sends a bad signal," he said.
The IEC said about 23 million registered voters, including more than 16,000 overseas voters, would vote to elect a new National Assembly and nine Provincial Legislatures in April 22 elections.
(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2009)
