MK Party demands freeze on eThekwini election results over alleged IEC system failures

The MK Party has objected to the Electoral Commission of South Africa's (IEC) handling of the eThekwini election results, citing systemic failures and discrepancies. In a formal objection, the party accused the IEC of presiding over serious failures at its eThekwini results operations centre (ROC). The objection, signed by MK Party acting secretary-general Lindiwe Makubu, raises concerns about arithmetic and physical mismatches between electronic leaderboards and certified physical results slips.

The MK Party alleges that figures entered electronically at the ROC deviate systematically from figures recorded on Form NP041 results slips. These slips were completed and counter-signed by party agents at individual voting stations. The party wants the IEC to immediately freeze the capturing of election results in disputed voting districts and wards. They also demand a transparent forensic technical explanation of the network glitch experienced at the eThekwini ROC.

The objection comes as the IEC continues with the verification and capturing of results after the November 4 local government elections. The accuracy and credibility of the results process are under scrutiny. IEC spokesperson Kate Bopela said the matter was in the hands of the commissioners. The commissioners will directly respond to political parties, according to Bopela.

The MK Party further alleges that failures occurred during the physical verification, reconciliation and sorting of ballots between November 2 and 4. The party takes issue with public statements by the IEC accusing it of failing to deploy agents at various voting stations. The MK Party argues that these allegations were used to mask localised system failures and breaks in the chain of custody.

The party demands access for an independent forensic systems analyst to examine the commission's data processing backend, source code operations and physical ballot reconciliations. They also want the IEC to publicly withdraw what they describe as defamatory remarks accusing the party of failing to deploy election agents. The party claims these statements prejudiced its public standing while the electoral dispute remained active.

The MK Party's most consequential demand is that the IEC postpone the final announcement and gazetting of municipal election results. They want this to happen until all alleged discrepancies, quarantine requests and verification disputes raised in their objection have been resolved. The objection was lodged in terms of section 65 of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act.

The four-page objection does not identify specific voting districts or wards affected, quantify alleged discrepancies or attach results slips and technical evidence. The allegations have not been independently verified. The MK Party also submitted an application for condonation should its objection be processed concurrently with or after the statutory 5pm deadline on Friday.

Key points

• MK Party demands freeze on eThekwini election results over alleged IEC system failures
• Party alleges systemic failures, discrepancies in results and irregularities in counting and verification process
• IEC spokesperson says matter is in hands of commissioners, who will directly respond to political parties