The IEC said the 2021 election was the most difficult it had to oversee, due to a variety of challenges, including power cuts and the coronavirus pandemic.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the keynote address at the closing ceremony of the Local Government elections.
'By performing this important civic duty you have contributed to strengthening and consolidating democracy. I want to congratulate all South Africans for holding an election that was peaceful, free and fair. The people have spoken,' the president said.
Addressing a gathering that comprised senior government officials and leaders of various political parties in Tshwane, the IEC's chairperson Glen Mashinini described the elections as "free and fair".
The IEC declared the 2021 municipal elections free and fair. Here's a summary of the results in numbers:
The party increased its support base in the area by 4% in these elections, which is the only place where a majority was clenched.
The overall election results are worked out at centralised election results operation centres (ROCs) under the control of the IEC.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is on Wednesday night giving an update on the results of the 2021 local government elections.
As at 4 pm on 3 November 2021, the IEC said it had captured 96,9% of votes and assured South Africans that the process would not be delayed. #LGE2021 #Elections2021 #IEC
The IEC's Michael Hendrickse was about to take questions from reporters when the president of the Democratic Independent Party, Anwar Adams, shouted that the elections had been irregular and should be re-run.
According to the commission, counting has officially stopped and will now only focus on auditing results.
Following a few technical problems with the voter management devices relating to the polling process, the IEC could face litigation from some political parties.
Earlier, officials said they were aiming to have 90% of the ballots tallied but it appears they are still far from that target.
The institution on Tuesday said it could not have carried out these elections without the devices that cost R500 million to procure.
There were already concerns that more than 13 million eligible voters had not even bothered to register for the local government polls.
It said the tampered with ballot papers in the City of Joburg and in Ekurhuleni and put the wrong name alongside its logo and wanted the elections halted over this error.
Earlier, it said it expected the first results from the 2021 local government election to begin coming in after midnight.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) introduced the voter management device (VMD) for this year's elections, which replaced the old "zip-zip" devices. As voting took place across SA on Monday, the new devices experienced glitches. They cost IEC just over R500 million.
