News 17:00

BULLETIN 31 May 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA is open to all coalition possibilities post-election
# Iraq executes eight people with links to the Islamic State group
# And rugby: Ben-Jason Dixon is to play his 50th match for the Stormers against the Lions

# DA leader John Steenhuisen has expressed openness to various coalition possibilities. He says the DA’s priority is to meet with Multi-party Charter parties but is not ruling out other collaborations. Steenhuisen remains hopeful about the DA’s competitive standing in key battlegrounds like Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. He says final decisions will be made once all votes are counted, to prioritise citizens’ interests and ensure a viable future:

Preliminary results from the Electoral Commission a short while ago showed the ANC was leading with 41.78-percent after 67.69-percent of the voting districts were processed. The DA followed with 22.63-percent while the MK Party was on 12.08-percent. The EFF and the IFP are among the top five nationally, with 9.5- and 3.07-percent respectively.

And, the Human Sciences Research Council survey, in collaboration with the Electoral Commission, reveals strong voter confidence in this year’s election integrity. A staggering 95-percent of respondents expressed trust in the elections. Most voters, comprising 84-percent, lauded the conduct of election officials, describing them as primarily helpful. The council’s research director, Benjamin Roberts, says the overall voter satisfaction reflects a robust public trust in the electoral system:

# Iraqi authorities have executed eight people convicted of terrorism over links to the Islamic State group. A security source told AFP the eight Iraqis were executed by hanging at Al-Hut prison in the city of Nasiriyah. Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offences are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.

# Rugby: Flank Ben-Jason Dixon will make his 50th appearance for the Stormers in tomorrow’s United Rugby Championship clash with the Lions in Cape Town. There is an all-new front row of props Neethling Fouché and Sti Sithole and hooker André-Hugo Venter. In the backline Wandisile Simelane comes in at outside centre to replace the injured Damian Willemse. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu replaces Warrick Gelant at fullback. The Stormers end the regular season with a South African derby in front of their home crowd, which kicks off at 1:45.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-68-cents and the euro at 20-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-655-dollars-15-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-354-dollars-82-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-23-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….