South Africa opens special votes as Zuma says MK Party is ready
The electoral commission says it is prepared for voting day, while Reuters describes a splintering electorate and a multi-party fight for the cities.
South Africans began casting special votes on Monday, with the electoral commission saying it was ready for voting day and Jacob Zuma declaring that his MK Party is ready to take over the country.
The Independent Electoral Commission assured voters it was prepared for special votes and for voting day, the South African Government News Agency reported. Special votes are cast ahead of the main polling day by voters registered to do so.
IOL reported that heat and thunderstorms were forecast for Monday as the special vote got under way.
Zuma, who was South Africa's president from 2009 to 2018, said his uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party was ready to take over South Africa, according to SABC News. The party takes its name from the armed wing of the African National Congress, the movement Zuma once led and which has governed since the end of apartheid.
Reuters reported that the vote is splintering, setting up a multi-party battle for the cities. The agency's headline framed the contest around urban control rather than a single national winner.
The reports did not carry turnout figures, and none gave a result.
Politicsweb carried the vote in its weekly news diary, under the heading "South Africa votes", as a round-up of the week's political events rather than a single news report.
South Africa's electoral commission runs both the special vote and the main polling day, and the government news agency's statement was confined to its operational readiness.
How the reports differ
Reuters framed the vote as a splintering of the electorate that sets up a multi-party battle for the cities, and led with that analysis rather than with any official statement. SABC News led instead with Jacob Zuma's claim that his MK Party is ready to take over South Africa. The South African Government News Agency carried the electoral commission's assurance that it is ready for special votes and voting day, with no political claim in its headline. IOL led with the weather forecast for Monday as special voting began, and Politicsweb listed the vote only in its weekly news diary.
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