The website of South Africa’s electoral commission was down on Friday as the country counted votes from a key election in which the ruling ANC looked set to lose its majority.
“We apologise for the issue with our public-facing NPE system, and are working on restoring service”, the commission said.
“The results system is still operational and local offices continue to capture results”, it said.
With a third of votes in Wednesday’s election tallied, the ANC was leading but with a score of only 42 percent – well below the 57 percent it won in 2019.
The centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) followed on 25 percent. The leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and former South African president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) were neck and neck on around nine percent each.
The final results are expected in the next three days.
The incident brings to light how much technology is used in today’s electoral processes. Technology creates new vulnerabilities in addition to significant improvements in accessibility, efficiency, and transparency. Maintaining the integrity of the election and the public’s trust depends on electoral technology being strong and dependable. Election commissions throughout the world need to be ready to handle potential hazards such cybersecurity threats, system overloads, and technological issues. The experience of the IEC emphasizes how crucial it is to have backup plans and a strong infrastructure in place to deal with situations like this.
An important incident that highlights the value of technology in elections and the necessity of reliable systems to support democratic processes is the outage of South Africa’s electoral commission website during a pivotal vote count. The episode serves as a reminder of the difficulties and obligations related to contemporary electoral management as the nation awaits the announcement of the outcome of this crucial election. If President Bola Tinubu’s administration is successful in taking office, it will need to confront these issues head-on in order to guarantee that upcoming elections are held in a transparent and orderly manner and to bolster public confidence in the democratic process. Future developments pertaining to election integrity in South Africa will be significantly influenced by the IEC’s ability to adapt and remain resilient in the face of this issue.
