ELECTION NEWS - For the first time since 1994, there is a concerted challenge of electoral processes by political parties. 

This followed several concerns raised, among others that a number of voters may have voted more than once in the 2019 national and provincial election.

Merely attempting to vote more than once is a criminal offense in terms of the Electoral Act and perpetrators will be arrested and may be prosecuted. 

Police have arrested 22 people on suspicion of attempting to vote more than once, yet said none of the voters succeeded to vote more than once.

One of the people arrested by police is a journalist who allegedly attempted to vote more than once.

Journalists questioned the IEC on why people were arrested despite there being no proof that they have not voted more than once. IEC commissioner Janet Love told a press conference in Pretoria on Friday night that the mere attempt to vote more than once constitutes a criminal offense that warrants an arrest.

The IEC conceded that there was no evidence of double voting.

In total 27 political parties insisted that the 2019 election was not free and fair. The parties had a legal representative submit a letter to the IEC alleging that people voted more than once; that some voting stations opened late, or not at all; that a number of voting stations ran out of ballot papers where voters were asked to return to the voting station later; that the supposedly indelible ink rubbed off easily; and that in some instances the scanners (zip-zip machines) did not work properly. 

The letter insists that the IEC appoint an independent audit firm to review the election results. They demand confirmation in this regard by 11:00 on Saturday. Should this deadline not be met, the legal missive insists that the election result announcement should be delayed.  

Some of the disgruntled parties threatened protests at the results centre in Pretoria should their demands not be met. The parties argue that it would probably be impossible for the IEC to determine whether a voter had voted twice, whether the voter was in fact registered to vote, or in which province the voter was registered in.

The 27 parties demand an independent audit of the problems and want a complete rerun of the elections. According to the legal letter, the parties may approach the Electoral Court for remedy.

The IEC said their legal representatives will respond to the legal challenge launched by the smaller parties. As the matter is sub judice, more details cannot be discussed, the IEC insisted.

The electoral commission announced an audit of the results and votes cast. The IEC said that a statistically representative sample of 1020 voting stations was provided by the Statistician-General for an independent audit. The IEC has also called for an investigation into the efficacy of the ink in the marker pens supplied to the IEC. Research into the marker pen ink will be done in conjunction with the Council for Scientific Research.

In the legal letter, the disgruntled smaller parties avered that the IEC cannot objectively investigate the concerns they have raised.

Collectively the aggrieved parties received just fewer than 400 000 of the 15.7 million votes cast.

Earlier the Western Cape electoral officer Courtney Sampson said voters may have intentionally used chemicals to remove the ink off their thumbs.

Meanwhile, the IEC confirmed that the final election results will be released as soon as all the results are available.

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