By Barbara Whittle
The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) submitted its election observation mission report to the Electoral Commission (IEC) at the end of May 2014. Generally, based on the over-all observations of its attorney observers, the LSSA concluded that the elections were free and fair. IEC voting staff were friendly and helpful and most observers found the organisation of the stations and the handling of issues by IEC officials to be positive, with most issues duly resolved by the voting agents. Most voting stations appeared to be run efficiently and effectively and voters were in good spirits, with a calm and peaceful atmosphere reported at the majority of the stations.
The LSSA commended the IEC for ensuring free and fair national and provincial elections on 7 May 2014.
Reporting on the election monitoring initiative to the LSSA Council at its meeting at the end of May, LSSA Co-chairperson Max Boqwana said that, through the attorneys and candidate attorney observers, the attorneys’ profession had given a clear indication that it takes an interest in the democratic processes in the country. Chief Executive Officer, Nic Swart said that the LSSA would keep a database of available observers and would start planning for the 2016 local government elections. The observer database would also serve as a pool of observers for the LSSA to deploy as part of observer missions to other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.
Mr Boqwana added that a further aspect of the LSSA election initiative would be to consider a review of the electoral legislation to assess whether the legislation itself provides a basis for free and fair election, or whether amendments could be suggested.
Earlier this year, the LSSA resolved that it should observe the elections on 7 May and applied for and received accreditation from the IEC as a domestic observer. The LSSA then called on attorneys to make themselves available on a voluntary basis to observe the elections.
Some 262 attorneys and candidate attorneys who attended the full-day training in April, with training materials sponsored by LexisNexis, committed their time to observe at various voting stations at their own expense. They were supplied with observer kit by the LSSA and a call centre was set up at the LSSA office to take calls from observers who required assistance and advice on Election Day.
Observers had been requested to visit three voting stations and more if they wished to do so. They visited the station where they were registered first, followed by a second station of their choice and a last station of their choice where they observed the counting process. It was found that observers went above and beyond the call of duty and many stayed until the early hours of the morning to observe the counting process. Many observers also chose to visit between four and six voting stations and over 450 reports were received. Mr Boqwana and Mr Swart were present at the National Results Centre in Pretoria after the polls closed and votes were reported.
The LSSA’s goals for the 2014 observer mission were to –
Recommendations
Besides its general observations, the LSSA report also contains a number of recommendations for the IEC.
Voter education
The biggest issues among the voters seemed to be that they were not educated in regard to the general registration process and special-votes registration process. Large numbers of voters were turned away because they were not registered to vote and the registration process had to be explained to them by IEC staff or observers.
The LSSA recommend that the registration period for votes should be extended by a couple of months, and that there should be more than two official registration campaigns.
In addition, there should be more advertising around the registration campaigns, and the advertising should be done well before the registration dates. More emphasis needed to be placed on the fact that voters cannot cast votes if they are not registered to vote. This goes hand-in-hand with educating voters to register in their voting districts. A major issue observed during this election was the fact that presiding officers reported s 24A abuse of the Electoral Act 73 of 1998, and elections materials running out due to the vast number of s 24A votes being cast. Voters should also be informed of the purpose of a special vote, and when they will qualify to apply for a special vote. This would relieve a lot of frustration and tension among voters on Election Day.
Voting staff education
The LSSA recommended that there be specific focus placed on the opening procedure of a voting station since most issues seemed to occur at that stage. Staff seemed disorganised, not always sure of the voting station layout, and there were many instances were party agents were getting involved to help move the process along.
Replacement of zip-zip machines
The malfunctioning of zip-zip machines caused most delays in the opening process of the voting stations. Reports showed that numerous stations had problems with malfunctioning machines. The LSSA recommended different machines be used in the next elections, or alternatively, staff should be educated on alternative means of proceeding with the opening of the station if the machines are not working.
Provision of election materials
The LSSA recommended that more staff be employed in order to ensure speedy delivery of election materials where more might be needed. More VEC 4 forms should be supplied to all stations by default in order to ensure that voters are not turned away due to lack of voting materials and VEC 4 forms. LSSA observers reported many instances where the name of the voter did not appear on the voters’ roll but the voter claimed that he or she was indeed registered at that particular station.
Vigilance regarding party intimidation of voters
The most severe issue observed was the fact that there were many stations with political parties marking voters’ names on ‘voters’ rolls’ or checking ID numbers of voters. This was a severe problem and could cause intimidation of voters which could directly influence their choice. The LSSA recommended that presiding officers should be educated on the rules and regulations pertaining to the activities of political parties allowed on Election Day. They should be instructed to be more vigilant in addressing these issues the moment they become aware of them.
Barbara Whittle, Communication Manager, Law Society of South Africa, e-mail: barbara@LSSA.org.za
This article was first published in De Rebus in 2014 (July) DR 15.