South Africa's local government by-elections being held in five provinces are running smoothly, according to the country's Independent Electoral Commission spokeswoman Kate Bapela.
"So far I've not received any report contrary to that," she said on Wednesday afternoon.
Voters are going to the polls to cast their ballots for 41 contested seats in the Western Cape, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape.
The newly-formed Congress of the People is contesting a number of the seats through independent candidates, in what is seen as the first real test of its supports.
In Cape Town, where a head-to-head clash between Cope and the ruling the African National Congress (ANC) failed to materialize after the ANC missed registration deadlines, polling was also running smoothly, IEC provincial head Courtney Sampson said.
He said there had been a need for the ANC to be on the streets on Wednesday to tell voters that its last-minute court bid to take part had not been successful.
Sampson said voter turnout had been "very low" by mid-afternoon.
It was a working day, and there was always a possibility that things might pick up, but Cape Town traditionally had a relatively low turnout in municipal by-elections, of about 20 percent.
Source:Xinhua
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