By Mumtaz Saley

Spoilt ballots could have gotten a seat at parliament!

A vast number of ballots were spoilt by voters, either by choice or by accident. The number of votes that were spoilt this year could have won a seat in parliament if they belonged to a party.

At 14:30 on Thursday the 9th, 83 408 votes were counted as spoilt, ranking in sixth thus far. This works out to roughly 1.3% of votes earning what would have been a few seats in parliament. This trend seems to have continued across South Africa.

At this time approximately 75% of votes had been counted. Counting is still underway, bringing us closer to the end of this year’s nail-biting elections.

Voter turnout was at its lowest in 25 years, the reasons for which could have been due to the weather or the fact that some voting stations were closed almost all day due to protest action. Smaller parties have put in a claim for re-elections as they claim the media coverage focused only on the big parties.

As of writing, the ANC is still in the majority with the DA in second place and EFF in third. The results to be finalised and announced on Saturday, 11 May 2019.