Friday May 20, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The Independent Electoral Commission had completed results for 95.1% of the country's voting districts by 7.30 this morning. The North West went to the African National Congress (ANC) with 74,99% of the vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA), with 16,14%. The Northern Cape also saw the ANC win the race, obtaining 63,57%, again followed by the DA with 22,27% Nationally the ANC continued to dominate the leader board after South Africa's fourth post-democracy local election. By 7:00, the ANC's share of the total national vote stood at 63.51%, with the DA at 22.26%.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi will inevitably leave power, US President Barack Obama said, as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation intensified its weeks-long bombing of government targets and said that it had sunk eight Libyan warships. Obama was speaking in an address on the Middle East where a series of uprisings occurred this year in governments in Tunisia and Egypt, and inspired a three-month-old revolt in Libya that aims to overthrow Gaddafi. "Time is working against Gaddafi. He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organised a legitimate and credible Interim Council," Obama said in Washington.

No formal objections have been submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) over the voting process in Wednesday's municipal elections, says the IEC's Chief Electoral Officer, Advocate Pansy Tlakula.
While two political parties had indicated that they might submit objections, so far no objections had been lodged, Tlakula said. She added that she was "not at liberty" to elaborate on the names of the political parties or the nature of the objections they indicated they would raise, as a formal objection had not been lodged.

Also making headlines:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Cameroon to hold a free and fair presidential election, expected in October this year.
The European Union is considering tightening sanctions on the government of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi by blacklisting ports to prevent exports of oil and imports of fuel, a Western diplomatic source said.
And, if South Africa nationalises its mining industry, it will be stripped of its remaining mining skills, says Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.