IEC should publicly share formula for seat allocations: Analyst

Political Analyst, Professor Sam Koma, says it is crucial for the IEC to publicly share the formula used to calculate the seat allocations in the provincial and national legislatures.

Koma says this will enable the commission to show transparency and accountability in the administering of the hotly contested polls.

The IEC has come under fire over the updated election results on their website.

[MEDIA STATEMENT]
Electoral Commission clarifies Elections Results Dashboard update following seat allocation pic.twitter.com/Xu9AV68lIx

— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) June 17, 2024

Following claims of 9.3 million votes unaccounted for following the disputed polls on Sunday, not too long after that – it appeared that the number of votes for some political parties doubled from what was initially declared on the 2nd of June.

The IEC has, however, denied allegations of manipulating votes, saying this was done to accommodate the compensatory seats.

This aggrieved many South Africans, with some accusing the electoral body of undermining the electorate.

Despite this, Koma says the IEC appeared to be reactive and not adept in handling discrepancies raised by political parties over the handling of the polls.

The MK Party leader, led by former President Jacob Zuma, has been at the centre of vote rigging claims against the IEC.

The party, which has been challenging the election results and even boycotting the first Parliament sitting, has vowed to go all the way to the International Court of Justice.

Zuma claims that the party presented concrete evidence to expose the alleged irregularities in the country’s voting process.

The MKP is accusing the Constitutional Court of relying on technicalities, while the country’s democracy is being destroyed.

They say the results announced by the IEC are not a true reflection of the will of the people, claiming that the ‘ANC of Ramaphosa’ has taken the country back to 1948.

The MK Party’s youth league has accused the IEC of undermining the intelligence of South Africans.

They’ve renewed the party’s call for a re-vote.

Political analyst, Dr Sithembile Mbete, has also weighed in on the matter.

She says it’s unfortunate that the IEC did not inform the public before making the changes to its election’s dashboard.

Mbete says this is the first time that the commission’s processes are facing mounting scrutiny from the general public.

“The end of one-party dominance in the country’s election system means that people are looking more carefully and are thinking about questions about how the elections were derived, the relationship between the percentage of votes, seat allocations.”

Mbete says despite this, however, there may be malicious questioning about the IEC processes because certain political parties did not achieve their desired election outcomes.

“An organisation that is trying to rig an election, does not make all of the election results publicly available for everybody to scrutinise.”

During the first day of vote counting, I stated this & I reiterate it now:

“We don’t require the IEC to recount votes, but we demand a re-election”

These elections were rigged. The IEC has tampered with the original numbers & is no longer capable of maintaining accurate records pic.twitter.com/3l3cVhG6Il

— ChrisExcelFake (@ChrisExcel102i) June 18, 2024

 

Honestly, he is the only person keeping this country together. I feel like we have been too silent and obedient for too long now. The IEC is disregarding the voices of the people. It is time for this country to shut down and demand a re-election. President Zuma has done his part pic.twitter.com/Qk2o013LdP

— Mpho (@MphoPieLava) June 18, 2024