Daso will ‘provisionally accept’ Fort Hare results while irregularities addressed

Despite a “number of irregularities…observed during the course of the election”‚ the Democratic Alliance Students Organisation (Daso) on Friday said it is “honoured that so many students at the University of Fort Hare continue to place their faith in us”.

This came after it celebrated the results of the Student Representative Council elections which landed it the Alice campus‚ which Daso leader Yusuf Cassim noted is “the largest campus”.

“Daso increased its support and number of seats at the East London campus‚” said Cassim.

“The results thus mean there was a virtual tie with the South African Student Congress (Sasco) overall‚ with both organisations receiving the exact same seat allocation and Daso retaining the number of seats it won last year.”

Cassim said Daso “narrowly lost the presidency by 160 votes amidst an onslaught of intimidation and election irregularities”.

The irregularities included the “non-use of the Independent Electoral Commission‚ as was done last year‚ and the hiring of a never-heard-of-before private company by the university to facilitate the elections…(and) a faulty voters roll”.

“We have also noted with great concern a letter by a senior staff member at the university encouraging students to vote for Sasco and an onslaught of intimidation throughout the elections from both University management and the ANC‚” Cassim said.

“We have lodged objections with the presiding officers and management regarding these concerns and await a response‚ but provisionally accept the results.”

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