- The Inkatha Freedom Party, a Zulu nationalist party that until now has dominated South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, is taking its poll defeat in the province to the courts. The party had registered over 40 alleged irregularities, including the vote of 367,000 people who did not appear on the voter's roll in KwaZulu-Natal.
The ruling ANC and other political parties have yet to react to the accusations of poll irregularities forwarded by the Inkatha. ANC leader and re-elected South African President Thabo Mbeki nevertheless already before the poll had warned the Inkatha against preparing to meet a possible loss with poll fraud allegations.
Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi - who still is South Africa's Minister of the Interior - yesterday announced the Zulu party was to go to court over the alleged poll irregularities. His party had had lodged more than 40 complaints with the Independent Electoral Commission, which had however failed to respond.
The gravest irregularity, reported by the Inkatha in KwaZulu-Natal, was the alleged poll participation of 367,000 people who did not appear on the voter's roll in the province. This, according to the party, equalled some 13 percent of the province's entire electorate, and subsequently had influenced the outcome of the vote.
Mr Buthelezi expressed great disappointment with the Independent Electoral Commission. According to the Inkatha leader, the Commission had not responded to the party's complaints. On the contrary, the Commission on Saturday had "declared the polls free and fair."
As his complaints were disregarded by the Commission, the Inkatha leader thus announced legal and political action. In addition to challenging the South African poll in court, Mr Buthelezi announced his party would not participate in the national government or the KwaZulu-Natal government until the court had reached a decision in the case.
The ANC and its affiliated COSATU trade union shortly before the poll denounced the Inkatha's alleged plan to challenge the poll results in case of poor results. The Inkatha Prime Minister of KwaZulu-Natal, Lionel Mtshali, publicly had accused the ANC of preparing election fraud in the province by ensuring a pro-ANC majority of the Electoral Commission's staff and election monitors.
The poll in KwaZulu-Natal, according to the official results, ended in an ANC victory. The ANC 38 of the province's 80 seats, while and the Inkatha received 30 seats in the provincial parliament. South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), nevertheless achieved 7 seats, and is the Inkatha's local ally. The ANC or the Inkatha/DA will need to assure support from two of the remaining three smaller parties to govern KwaZulu-Natal.
KwaZulu-Natal may thus become the only South African province not to be ruled by the ANC. In all other provinces, the ANC renewed its ruling mandate, while the conservative DA became the second political force. Nationwide, the ANC polled 69.7 percent, followed by 12.4 percent for the DA and 7.0 percent for the Inkatha. The turnout almost reached 77 percent among South Africa's 21 million registered voters.
While the Inkatha is challenging the poll results, the ANC and the DA on the other hand are celebrating the results. DA leader Tony Leon in a statement said his party's progress "lays the foundation for a strong, positive alternative government to the ANC in South Africa." He further said he looked forward to establish a coalition government with the Inkatha in KwaZulu-Natal.
President Mbeki on Saturday thanked members of the electoral commission "for the outstanding work it has done to bring about this excellent outcome." In a premature message, the ANC leader also congratulated all rival political parties and thanked them "for their ready acceptance of the election results, even in those instances in which the outcome was not as favourable as they might have expected."
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