IEC prepared to recount votes if audit outcomes motivate for it

“Where the commission finds materiality through the results process it will order appropriate remedies which in some instances may need specific recounts,” Sy Mamabolo, chief electoral officer of the IEC said. (Photo: Leon Sadiki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said every concern or objection raised in terms of the electoral process will be considered, and if need be there will be a recount. 

The IEC held a media briefing on Saturday afternoon following objections from certain parties, with some saying they will reject the election outcome if there isn’t a recount. 

The Mail & Guardian recently reported that the Umkhonto we Sizwe party is calling for a recount of the ballots cast in Wednesday’s elections, claiming that the process was rigged to prevent it from securing an outright majority in KwaZulu-Natal.

In the Western Cape, where the Democratic Alliance (DA)  has taken 55% of the vote and retained its majority, a number of smaller parties have written to the IEC requesting a manual recount of votes cast in the province.

The window for objections closed at 9pm on Friday, with the IEC saying there had been 36 lodged with it by that point.

“The attitude of the commission is not to put form over substance. We are not going to be technical, we are going to consider the issues brought before us and we are going to consider them in a process of assuring the integrity of these elections. 

“Where the commission finds materiality through the results process it will order appropriate remedies which in some instances may need specific recounts,” Sy Mamabolo, chief electoral officer of the IEC said. 

The GOOD Party’s Brett Heron said they had applied for condonation to submit a late objection over discrepancies between the numbers at the voting districts and those which were eventually displayed by the IEC.

Activist and independent candidate Zackie Achmat and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)  have since withdrawn their objections. 

Mamabolo said the results management process anywhere in the world and in any election is the most sensitive time of the election management process. In this regard, the commission is mindful that all electoral stakeholders must remain confident in the integrity of the results management process as a whole. 

He said the IEC engaged with service providers regarding the electoral process as part of election planning. As a result, the results system used during the election was specified, developed, tested and that process required the services of professional auditors who would audit the system to ensure that it would do what it was designed to do. 

“Once Deloiitte had audited the systems and assured us that it will do what it is designed to do, the process was open to contestants in the national political liaison committee. They had an opportunity— a window period— to look at the systems and to bring their own auditors to satisfy themselves,” Mambolo said. 

The IEC seemingly alluded that the political parties have few things to complain about seeing that they could test the system themselves.  

“That [testing the system] process was finalised and contestants were happy,” Mamabolo said. 

The chief executive said that for purposes of transparency, Grant Thornton Consortium of Auditors, have been procured to deal with the objections from political parties. “They are aware that all of you want a credible outcome”. 

Mamabolo also addressed concerns about the leaderboard that went offline for two hours on Friday. 

“We point out that the technical faults on the leaderboard had nothing to do with tampering or otherwise of the results management systems. It was a technical glitch that we experienced momentarily that has been resolved,” Mamabolo said. 

“We want to emphasise that the feed has remained functional and uncompromised”.

By Saturday 6pm, the ANC had garnered 39.77% of the vote, the DA 21.80%, Umkhonto weSizwe party had 14.37% and the EFF was at 9.65%.

“As part of finalising the results processes the commission wishes to assure this nation and everyone else that is following our elections that we continue to pledge priority on the finalisation of these results in a transparent and orderly manner,” Mamabolo said.