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- The IEC dismissed claims that 174 George residents were fraudulently registered.
- According to the IEC, it was a system error.
- The GOOD party submitted evidence that allegedly proved the DA had rigged the online registration system.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) rejected allegations that 188 voters were fraudulently registered under one address in George, Western Cape.
The IEC said it was, in fact, 174 voters that were linked to a single address through an "inadvertent error".
The GOOD party accused the DA of rigging votes and registering residents online from other wards ahead of a by-election last week.
Despite submitting evidence, including affidavits of confessions from DA canvassers, the Electoral Court dismissed GOOD's application for the by-elections to be postponed.
The DA has since emerged victorious in the by-elections held on 19 July, where GOOD and the Patriotic Alliance were contesting, winning two wards and gaining more support in another.
A resident living in the area was shocked that 188 voters had used his address. This was after his home was intruded on by various political parties to demand answers.
The statement from the IEC read:
"The affected voters were not, as alleged, new entrants on that ward segment of the voters' roll. The voters have been historically registered in the voting district and the ward. In fact, some have voted in previous elections, including the 2021 local government elections."
The IEC said all the voters had registered before the introduction of electronic registration in 2021, adding that an error placed all the voters under the same address.
"The addresses presented by voters when they applied for registration were used to update the details of these voters on the voters' roll. An inadvertent error allocated a common address to the 174 voters when the given addresses were checked against the ward boundaries. This is normal practice for wards with prospective by-elections," the IEC said.
READ | Electoral Court dismisses GOOD's application for George by-election postponement
"As per the law, contestants were provided copies of the voters' roll ahead of the by-elections held in George. No objections were lodged within the objection period in terms of the election timetable."
News24 previously reported that the DA's Western Cape leader, Tertuis Simmers, called these claims a "dishonest method" to derail elections, and that GOOD was looking for relevance.
Simmers accused GOOD's secretary-general, Brett Herron, and its regional coordinator, Donovan Saptoe, of intimidating voters to sign false affidavits.
However, Herron said the party would seek legal advice on the matter and would not be giving up.
The party received the backing of the PA, with its leader, Gayton McKenzie, posting in a series of tweets last week the names of 238 residents allegedly registered under the same house address in George.
