SA polls: Zuma-led MK party rejects results, calls for recount

The uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party in South Africa has rejected the results filtering in from Wednesday’s elections, citing “serious transgressions”.

The newly formed MK party is led by former President Jacob Zuma, whose name was still on the ballots despite being barred from contesting the polls.

With over 98 percent of the votes counted, the party stands at 14.60 percent nationally, third place behind the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the African National Congress (ANC).

Muzi Ntshingila, MK elections head, said he had received complaints from party agents that slips compiled by presiding officers were not in line with what was being presented and recorded by the party.

“Primarily, we are saying that we do not recognise these results, we object them, we are calling for an immediate manual counting because this has infringed on the rights of South Africans to decide the government of their choice,” Ntshingila said in a media briefing Friday night.

On Friday, the results viewing portal of the electoral commission (IEC) glitched for roughly two hours but was later restored.

The commission did not state a reason for the disruption but assured that results had not been compromised.

Nhlamulo Ndhlela, MK national spokesperson, said the party has lodged “a number of concerns” with the IEC over “serious transgressions” in the counting process.

Ndhlela said they had raised the issues with the IEC but had not received a “satisfactory response” to their concerns.

“There are fundamental issues regarding their conduct and their processes. There are a lot of discrepancies, and we will unpack what those are. We are not satisfied,” Ndhlela said.

Ndhlela said the party is considering approaching the electoral court but is flagging the issue publicly as it wants to place scrutiny on the counting process.

According to the IEC, the results of the election are expected to be announced at 6pm on Sunday.