IEC rejects Julius Malema’s claims of 2024 election irregularities
Malema claims his party was robbed of votes that could have secured his election as the country's president.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has slammed claims about the integrity of the 2024 general election results after Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema alleged irregularities.
EFF claims voting irregularities affected 2024 election outcome
In an interview on the Frank Dialogue podcast, Malema claimed his party was robbed of votes that could have made him the country's president.
In the interview, Malema alleged that votes cast for the EFF at Mponegele Primary School in Polokwane were incorrectly allocated to the African National Congress (ANC).
He blamed the IEC's IT system and questioned the credibility of the results process.
IEC defends election system and vote verification safeguards
On Monday, IEC rejected the claims, saying that official result slips from the voting station correspond to the results captured in its electronic results system.
The commission said the country's election result collation process includes multiple safeguards and transparency measures designed to protect the integrity and credibility of election outcomes.
It added that political parties and the media are granted access to voting station results at Results Operating Centres, while parties are permitted to photograph and share completed result slips.
“Some of the safeguards inherent in the results collation process include the following elements: Counting of the votes at the voting station in front of party agents and observers. Compiling a result slip at the voting station and having that countersigned by party agents. Capturing the results into the system built for that purpose using a double-blind capture process. Procuring the services of the independent audit industry to audit the correctness of the captured results against the result slips. Independent auditing of the functional modalities of the result system. Allowing political parties to audit the result system. Making voting station results available to political parties and the media through dedicated facilities at Results Operating Centres. Permitting parties to photograph and broadcast the results slips as soon as they are completed,” it said in a statement.
IEC to meet EFF leadership ahead of municipal elections
The IEC has confirmed that senior officials are scheduled to meet with EFF leadership on Thursday to discuss readiness for the upcoming municipal election and any concerns relating to the electoral process.
“The meeting requested by the party will be used to brief the party on election readiness matters and deal with any issues that the party may wish to raise relating to the electoral process. The Electoral Commission remains open to constructive engagement with all political parties through Political Liaison Committees on matters concerning the integrity, credibility and strengthening of South Africa’s electoral democracy.”
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