IEC defends voters' roll and counting process as complaints mount

The Electoral Commission has moved to defend both its voters' roll and its handling of Election Day, as more than 800 complaints were lodged by political parties and questions were raised about deceased voters and party agents being shut out of counting.

The Commission has dismissed concerns raised by the MK Party that more than 200 deceased people appear on the voters' roll, saying the presence of those names does not mean the roll is flawed, nor does it mean that dead people voted.

IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Mawethu Mosery said names of people who died after the voters' roll was certified may still appear as registered voters, because they were alive when the roll was finalised.

"It is possible to find names of people who may have passed on between the certification of the voters' roll and now, because at the time we finalised the voters' roll, they were still living individuals who would have presented themselves to the voting stations and vote," Mosery said.

"Therefore, those names would be on the valid side of the voters' roll."

That, according to the IEC, is why the MK Party's finding does not amount to proof of irregularity. A name remaining on the valid part of the roll does not mean that person cast a ballot, and it does not mean the system allowed a vote in their name.

Mosery pointed to a second safeguard. All voters are still required to present valid identification documents at voting stations before they can cast their ballots. No ID, no vote.

The Commission also drew attention to another part of the roll that, it argues, shows the system is working.

At the rejected section, at the back of the roll, there are names of rejected persons, and some of them are rejected because they are deceased.

"But if you look at our voters' roll, you will find that at the rejected section, which is at the back of the voters' roll, there are names of rejected persons, and some of them are rejected because they are deceased," he said.

While the Commission was defending the roll, it was also dealing with a wave of complaints about the conduct of voting itself.

Party agents were prevented from observing voting and counting at voting stations, according to the bulk of more than 800 complaints lodged with the Commission.

IEC Deputy CEO Masego Sheburi said on Thursday that about 106 complaints remained open.

"As it relates to complaints, by last night there were just over 800 complaints lodged by contestants. The preponderance of the complaints related to the conduct of voting station staff not allowing party agents to observe the counting as well as the voting process. The majority of those objections were closed and determined. Only about 106 remained open," Sheburi said.

He said these complaints were separate from objections handled by presiding officers at voting stations.

"There are objections that are dealt with by the presiding officer. Those would have been dealt with at each voting station. There are complaints that are raised with us, and these are the ones that I'm talking about, the 800.

"There is opportunity for contestants to raise objections that are material to the outcome of the declared results. Those objections must be in by 5 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, and those are dealt with by the Commission," he said.

The IEC was also asked about reports that party agents in parts of Mpumalanga had refused to sign result slips.

Sheburi said their refusal did not invalidate the results.

"When party agents don't countersign the result slip, it doesn't invalidate that result slip. That result slip remains official as signed by the presiding officer," he said.

Sheburi said the Commission had seven days to declare the results. However, it intended to announce them sooner.

"Once the Commission has dealt with those objections, it will be in a position to indicate when it will announce the final result. The Commission, as we indicated yesterday, has seven days lawfully to declare the result. The Commission does not want to keep the country in angst, and for that reason it will release the result as soon as all objections have been dealt with. Lawfully, the Commission cannot release or declare the result before 17:00 tomorrow afternoon," he said.

Meanwhile, results from eThekwini were slow to appear on the IEC's results website.

Sheburi attributed the delays to the length of the ballot papers in metropolitan areas.

"The reality of the situation is that in all the metros, the ballots were quite long. The practical implication of that is that it takes longer to count. The results capturing process will not be as expeditious as we may want it to be, merely because of the sheer size of the ballot papers," he said.