South African Electoral Commission Rebuffs Legal Threat Against Elections Results
Xinhua
2019/5/12 12:46:59
South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Saturday voiced "vigorous" opposition to any legal actions against the general elections results.
In response to the demand for an independent audit of the elections results and for an election rerun, the commission said such demand is "unreasonable and unlawful."
A coalition of 35 small parties said on Friday they were unhappy with the running of the elections which they said were marred by "double voting." They threatened to go to court and demanded an election rerun.
"Aggrieved parties had ample recourse to raise objections through the normal objection process and, if still unsatisfied, to appeal decisions of the commission," the IEC said in a statement.
The law makes no provision for preemptive legal action to interdict the commission from abiding by its constitutional and legal mandate, said the IEC.
The commission received 47 objections, of which five were upheld and five were withdrawn by the objecting parties. Most of the objections did not meet the requirements of the Constitution and lacked evidence of any irregularities, the IEC said.
The commission is satisfied with the integrity of its systems, commission spokesperson Kate Bapela said.
Additionally, the commission has further instituted an independent technical assurance process involving a random sample of 1,020 voting districts to be conducted by the statistician-general and is awaiting the findings of this process, Bapela said.
On Wednesday, South Africans went to the polls to elect their representatives for the National and Provincial Legislative Assemblies. The ruling party African National Congress (ANC) emerged as the winner, capturing 57.51 percent of the vote.
Nevertheless, it is the first time that the ANC support has been reduced to below 60 percent since 1994 when it first came to power.
The IEC described the elections as the "most complex, highly contested and logistically demanding" since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
2019/5/12 12:46:59
South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Saturday voiced "vigorous" opposition to any legal actions against the general elections results.
In response to the demand for an independent audit of the elections results and for an election rerun, the commission said such demand is "unreasonable and unlawful."
A coalition of 35 small parties said on Friday they were unhappy with the running of the elections which they said were marred by "double voting." They threatened to go to court and demanded an election rerun.
"Aggrieved parties had ample recourse to raise objections through the normal objection process and, if still unsatisfied, to appeal decisions of the commission," the IEC said in a statement.
The law makes no provision for preemptive legal action to interdict the commission from abiding by its constitutional and legal mandate, said the IEC.
The commission received 47 objections, of which five were upheld and five were withdrawn by the objecting parties. Most of the objections did not meet the requirements of the Constitution and lacked evidence of any irregularities, the IEC said.
The commission is satisfied with the integrity of its systems, commission spokesperson Kate Bapela said.
Additionally, the commission has further instituted an independent technical assurance process involving a random sample of 1,020 voting districts to be conducted by the statistician-general and is awaiting the findings of this process, Bapela said.
On Wednesday, South Africans went to the polls to elect their representatives for the National and Provincial Legislative Assemblies. The ruling party African National Congress (ANC) emerged as the winner, capturing 57.51 percent of the vote.
Nevertheless, it is the first time that the ANC support has been reduced to below 60 percent since 1994 when it first came to power.
The IEC described the elections as the "most complex, highly contested and logistically demanding" since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
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