Electoral Court rules that MK party’s 2024 election case is ‘flawed’

The Electoral Court on Friday dismissed an application by the MK party to set aside the results of the 2024 national and provincial elections.

Former president Jacob Zuma’s party alleged that the integrity of the election results was compromised when the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) results dashboard went blank for two hours on 31 May 2024.

The MK party alleged that the IEC interfered with the vote-capturing process. It also claimed that the IEC’s digital vote-capturing system was unreliable, which could raise doubts about the election results.

The IEC, however, insisted that its system did not crash and that results continued to be counted while the dashboard display was affected.

MK party’s case ‘flawed’

The Electoral Court ruled that the MK party’s insistence that something untoward happened with the results leaderboard was “flawed”.

“The audit trail indicates that the results continued to be captured and edited over this period, unaffected,” it said.

The court also said that auditors responsible for verifying the results confirmed that the technical problem with the leaderboard did not impact the results.

IEC system integrity

It said that there is no evidence that the IEC’s results system lacks integrity.

“The version of the commission based on proven and undisputed facts is to be preferred over the version of MK party, which is based on inferences. The inferential reasoning employed by MK party falls flat at the foundation level in that the premise on which that reasoning is based, in particular the expert report, are not sound,” the court ruled.

MK party’s application to have results set aside

The Electoral Court also commented on the MK party’s initial application to set aside the election results. It said the party had not complied with the mandatory procedure under section 55 of the Electoral Act.

“[The MK party] presents its challenge as a review of the commission’s decision to declare the results as free and fair. It thereby seeks to avoid the consequences of its failure to follow the mandatory objections procedure,” it said. “[The party’s] application to review the declaration of results is thus not competent in law.”

IEC welcomes ruling

The IEC welcomed the ruling on Friday.

“The court challenge revolved around the integrity and reliability of the system used by the commission to capture, tabulate, and determine election results,” it said.

The IEC said it is guided by its responsibility “to protect the integrity, credibility, and fairness of the electoral outcomes”.

“Following the clarity provided by the judgment, the commission will now finalise the independent and external audit of the result system to be used on 4 November 2026.”