“If the commission finds significant issues throughout the results process, it will order appropriate remedial measures, which may require a specific recount in some cases,” said IEC chief electoral officer Si Mamabolo. (Photo: Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The South African Electoral Commission (IEC) said any concerns or objections raised about the electoral procedures would be considered and a recount would be conducted if necessary.
The IEC held a press conference on Saturday afternoon following objections from some political parties, some of which said they would reject the election results unless a recount was held.
of Mail & Guardian It was recently reported that the Umkhonto we Sizwe party is calling for a recount of votes cast in Wednesday's elections, alleging fraud to prevent it from winning a majority in KwaZulu-Natal.
In the Western Cape, where the Democratic Alliance (DA) maintained its majority with 55% of the vote, several smaller parties wrote to the IEC requesting a manual recount of votes cast in the province.
The appeals period ended at 9pm on Friday, by which point the IEC said it had received 36 appeals.
“The committee's stance is not to prioritize form over substance. We will not look at technicalities, but will consider the issues that are brought before us and will consider them in the process of ensuring the fairness of this election.”
“If the commission finds significant issues throughout the results process, it will order appropriate corrective measures, which may require a specific recount in some cases,” IEC chief electoral officer Si Mamabolo said.
Brett Herron, of the GOOD Party, said he had applied for leave to lodge a belated challenge to discrepancies between the polling precinct figures and the figures finally shown by the IEC.
Activist and independent candidate Zackie Ahmat and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) later withdrew their opposition.
Mamabolo noted that in any election anywhere in the world, the election results management process is the most sensitive period in the election management process. In this regard, the Commission is mindful of the need for all electoral stakeholders to remain confident in the integrity of the entire election results management process.
He said the IEC engaged with service providers on the election process as part of the election planning, which resulted in the results system to be used during the election being specified, developed and tested, a process which entailed the services of specialist auditors who would audit the system to ensure it was working as designed.
“After Deloitte audited the system and assured us it worked as designed, the process was opened up to the participants of the National Political Liaison Committee. Participants had the opportunity, or grace period, to bring in their own auditors to review the system and obtain a satisfactory outcome,” Mumboro said.
The IEC seemed to imply that political parties would have little to complain about since they could test the system themselves.
“that [testing the system] “The process was completed and participants were satisfied,” Mamabolo said.
The chief executive said he had hired the Grant Thornton auditing firm consortium to deal with any objections from political parties to ensure transparency, “and they know you want results you can trust.”
Mamabolo also addressed concerns over the leaderboard, which was taken offline for two hours on Friday.
“We would like to point out that the technical glitch in the leaderboard has nothing to do with any tampering with the results management system. This was just a temporary technical glitch that we experienced which has already been resolved,” Mamabolo said.
“We want to emphasize that the feed works and remains uncompromised.”
By 6pm on Saturday, the ANC had received 39.77% of the vote, the DA 21.80%, Umkhonto weSizwe Party 14.37% and the EFF 9.65%.
“As part of the process of finalising the election results, the commission wishes to assure the public and all those following the election that its priority remains the finalisation of the election results in a transparent and orderly manner,” Mamabolo said.
