IEC promises glitch-free elections with faster queues

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has reassured political parties that there will be no technical glitches when South Africans go to the polls on 4 November.

On Wednesday, the commission held an event in Midrand where political parties committed to the code of conduct governing how they should conduct themselves during campaigning and on election day.

At the event, IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya reassured political parties that it has improved its technical capabilities.

“We have worked on voter management devices and ensured that they remain functional and hold their own on election day. This we do because we have been painfully reminded of the technical challenges that we had to deal with in 2024.

“I am very pleased to tell you that work on this front has happened well. We have gone through voter registration weekend 1 and 2 exceptionally well; we believe we will do well on election day as well,” he said.

Results systems

Moepya said the commission is also ensuring that the results system is fully functional – without any flaws.

“We are dealing with the results systems with a guarded heart. We have concluded the end-to-end functionality testing of the results systems to ensure optimum performance, compliance with strict governance and data quality requirements.

“In our commitment to transparency, the commission will be inviting contesting political parties to test the result system using their preferred independent experts.

“Political parties will have direct access to the system from 5 to 12 October 2026 to identify, raise and remediate any systemic issues well ahead of election day,” said Moepya.

Technical issues

Recently, the ANC took the IEC to court after claiming that system glitches on the IEC’s online platform prevented the party from submitting its full list of councillor candidates.

The ANC lost the case but still insists that its data capturers picked up system glitches on the IEC’s site. The commission has denied this.

The ANC this week also decided to take the case to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) after the IEC would not accept the party’s late submission of its councillor candidates list.

In 2024, the leaderboards at the results operation centre (ROC) in Midrand and other parts of the country malfunctioned for about two hours due to technical issues.

This left some political parties in panic mode.

However, the IEC at the time assured the political parties that the problems with the screens did not affect the election results.

Voting stations

Moepya said the commission has also made efforts to ensure that the voting process is smooth and efficient for all South Africans.

“The commission has instituted improved voting station layout plans and prioritised measures to ensure faster voter traffic flow at every voting station, reducing queuing time and enhancing overall customer experience on election day.”

Moepya said more than 60 000 staff members have been trained to ensure that voting stations operate optimally.