Election Observers Share Findings

The EISA Observer Mission Team

On Friday, 24 April 2009, the EISA Observer Mission Team delivered its “Interim Statement on the 2009 South African National and Provincial Elections” at the EISA offices in Johannesburg.

EISA set up an observer mission consisting of 34 members from Nigeria, Lesotho, Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Cameroon, Tanzania and Angola.

The team was deployed to the country’s nine provinces, to make an assessment of the elections and produce preliminary findings and recommendations.

Their detailed observations were made by assessing the pre-election, polling and post election phase and their statement was delivered by the team leader, Ade Adefuye.

The Findings of the Mission

The EISA Election Observer Mission, based its findings on the EISA/ECF Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation (PEMMO) in the SADC Region as a guideline.

The Observer Mission focused on the following main areas:

The Constitutional and Legal Framework
The team noted that the main instruments governing the conduct of elections in South Africa include:

• Electoral Act, 73 of 1998
• Electoral Commission Act, 51 of 1996
• Public Funding or Represented Political Parties Act, 103 of 1999
• Independent Broadcasting Authority Act, 153 of 1993.

The team found that a dominant characteristic of the South African political system was its adoption of the proportional representation electoral system. They also found that its constitution guarantees fundamental freedoms and human rights.

The Campaign Process
The team found the election campaign process to be generally calm and orderly. This despite incidences of political intolerance and conflict in Kwa Zulu-Natal between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC) and then also between the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA). The team also reported on incidences of hate speech between parties.

Voter Registration and Voters Roll
The EISA Mission team was impressed by the increase in the number of registered voters which brought a total of just over 23 million, representing 80 percent of those qualified to vote.

The Media
The Mission commended the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) for organising political party debates thereby providing platforms for party aspirants to discuss key issues of concern to voters.

Gender Equality
It was noted that women were involved in the electoral process at all levels, mainly in the election management. The team was pleased to note that women made up a high percentage of the number of registered voters.

The Voting Process
For the first time, South Africans living abroad were given the opportunity to vote and adequate arrangements were made for the old, infirmed, pregnant to cast their vote. The team went on to say that the South African experience of external voting and special vote should serve as an inspiration for other African countries in democracy building.

The Counting Process
It was found that election officials did not have an adequate understanding of the counting procedures. This caused substantial delays and thus procedures were not applied uniformly.

Results Operation Centres
The establishment of the National Results Operations Centre in Pretoria helped to enhance the transparency and integrity of the electoral process.

Conflict Management
Conflict management training for electoral staff and conflict mediators coupled with the presence of the security forces contributed to a peaceful election.

Areas for Improvement and Recommendations

• As was noticed early on in the campaign period, hate speech, intolerance, obstruction and intimidation. The EISA teams feel that this area especially needs attention to maintain and consolidate electoral democracy in South Africa.
• Another area which needs improvement was the IEC’s decision to allow voters to vote at any voting station in their province. This caused disruption as the IEC could not anticipate how many voters would show up at a given polling station, thus not being equipped with enough ballot papers.
• The team also suggests that the IEC consider increasing the number of polling stations in order to cater for large numbers of registered voters.
• Planning for a maximum number of voters should be considered, as a shortage of election material was evident on Election Day.
• Translucent ballot boxes would increase transparency. It is also recommended that election officials ensure that there are two ballot boxes per polling station be provided, to ensure that national and provincial ballots are not mixed up.
• Training should be provided to ensure that election officials understand the election procedures, including the guidelines for counting ballots.
• The electoral law should be amended to disallow parties to display their material and posters around polling stations. Voters should also not be allowed to wear party political attire around polling stations.

The overall exercise for EISA proved a credible exercise held in accordance with the PEMMO and other internationally electoral standards and good practices.

The EISA Mission team believes that the IEC deserves to be congratulated for demonstrating high levels of professionalism. The mission believes that the results that will be delivered will be a reflection of the will of the South African people.

EISA concluded the press conference by congratulating the IEC, political parties and the people of South Africa and all electoral stakeholders for the successful conduct of the 2009 National and Provincial Elections.