Looking back at SA elections 2009

[Dave A]

I know we're still a while away from the results being in, but thought it might be a good idea to start taking views on how the elections went.

I've got to say I'm pretty disappointed to hear of IEC staff involved with irregularities. Hopefully nothing too significant, but the odd rotten apple really does leave a sour taste. That said, it seems the IEC has taken prompt action.

The other problems really seem to come down to logistics. The shortage of ballots at some stations doesn't make sense seeing as the number of registered voters is known. Hopefully it turns out to be a case of people who did not vote at the station they're registered at was a lot higher than expected, but it warrants close scrutiny.

We still have long queues at some voting stations, and really short queues at others. Where I voted didn't have a queue to speak of - from walking in the front gate to out again was about 20 minutes. And yet the voting station over the hill was much busier.

What was your queue experience?

As usual, everyone seemed to be in high spirits. That's one thing we really seemed to have got right in SA. There's this really positive vibe at the polling stations

[twinscythe12332]

As usual, everyone seemed to be in high spirits. That's one thing we really seemed to have got right in SA. There's this really positive vibe at the polling stations

well I doubt anyone is going to turn up and say "darn, now I have to vote for a party I want to"

[insulin]

I hate to say it but I think change is still 4 years away from today and I hope that I am totally wrong about this but I fear that the masses we saw had one thing in mind and it was more an exercise for some then it was a choice. I am sure that this election will hold no surprises at this point. And that is actually the worrying bit because if there is no change then there is no more democracy? So I got myself a nice Nando’s takeaway and drove home...

[IanF]

Just under 2 hours in the queue.
My thoughts are the IEC should have training on debottlenecking. I think Ricardo Semler, don't quote me on that as not 100% sure of the name, touched on this in his book. It was Eli Goldblatt with theory of constraints.Basically you find the bottleneck then solve that problem then look for other bottlenecks. They did that with costing the bottlenecks with total overheads then the management found ways to debottleneck or work around it.

[twinscythe12332]

with regards to the voting posters, I'm still quite lost on what some parties were thinking. ANC did their usual vote for change, vote for a better life etc. but the posters for the DA were saying vote DA stop Zuma. vote for the tiger. vote to win. This says nothing to the man out on the street.

however I did come across a few of these :

[Dave A]

Ug. Serious resizing required!

Me try to fix...

EDIT: Done!

Not everyone has giant screens for monitors, you know

[Debbiedle]

7,3 minutes in the queue! yeeha!

[Dave A]

One of the things the analyticals amongst are sure to want to do is look at the results.

So far I've found the 2004 results here and then the latest on 2009 results here. It's at times like these I wish I had a two display setup to spot the swings.

[Graeme]

We voted at the same polling station where you did Dave - there was a queue of three people in front of us and we parked the car almost against the polling station. A breeze. And yet, at the same time at another station less than two kilometres away there were long, long queues. I wonder how they balance the roll.

Logistics - when you consider the sheer size of South Africa, and the people the IEC had to deal with, I think they did a good job.

[wynn]

Well the results are mostly in and its same old same old.

Same butter different bums.

[mailman786]

I have also seen poling stations with very little activity, and then not so far away, massive queues piling up. Very odd. I guess something to look at for the next one, but then again it comes down to planning correctly.

[Dave A]

Now that the election results are in, here's my brief take on what happened.

The ANC.
The ANC ran an awesome campaign, especially given all the negative stuff flying around. Sure, they lost ground in most provinces, but in most instances the losses were relatively insignificant and other than the Western Cape no-one threatened their dominance of the SA political landscape.

The whole campaign was slick and well planned. Any negative publicity was quickly countered or twisted to the advantage of the ANC by their astute understanding of the bulk of the electorate in South Africa. Whether the ANC is the same party it was may be debatable, but the religious zeal of the faithful remains undented through every twist in the tale.

The DA.
The DA no doubt is celebrating its victory in the Western Cape and at a national level may view the failure of the ANC to get a clear 2/3rds majority as a victory too, but the results also delivered a lot of bad news. They simply are not making any meaningful penetration into the segments that make up the bulk of the electorate.

COPE.
COPE proved that they're in the game, at least for now.

The rest.
A few have some regional support. Some have some very specific identities which may keep them alive in the future. But most, if they are honest with themselves, are more interest groups than political parties and would do better for their cause if they worked their issues through one of the real political parties.

In summary.
There is no party that poses a real threat to ANC dominance of the political landscape at the moment.

Looking forward.
The ANC's biggest challenge is not to alienate their loyal support. On current form this should not be difficult.

COPE's biggest challenge is to establish its own identity.

The DA's biggest challenge is establishing street credibility with the bulk of the electorate.

[Graeme]

This is the best break the DA (formerly the old Progressive Party) have ever had in their long existence. Now is their chance to strut their stuff in the Cape. I was talking to John Steenhuizen, former leader of the DA caucus in the Durban City Council, and now heading for his new job in the Natal Provincial Administration the other day and he was really eager and ready to roll. Watch this space....

[sgafc]

Well the results are mostly in and its same old same old.

Same butter different bums.

I respect everyones right to vote or NOT to vote like I did. What a waste of time. Standing in a queue like sheep to vote, for what?

Dont get me wrong, I am very positive about the country's future, an ex ANC activist myself, but could just not come to terms with the "disease", and criminality in the African National Congress.

The opposition made an impact, not enough, but will a new party change anything? I doubt it...

[garthu]

Aha -

but will a new party change anything? I doubt it..

Sadly this apathy is discouraging but the same way i feel. But i share EXACTLY the same opinion and didn't register. I must admit, as the time grew closer, i regretted not registering though. On the web poll i was spoilte vote - Guess i just don't trust politics anymore...