Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, has warned the country’s independent electoral commission (IEC) not to declare the election results as scheduled on Sunday.
The uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, which Zuma leads, had rejected the results filtering in from Wednesday’s elections, citing “serious transgressions”.
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).
On Friday, the results viewing portal of the IEC glitched for roughly two hours but was later restored.
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The commission did not state a reason for the disruption but assured that results were not compromised.
In a late-night press briefing on Saturday, Zuma claimed that the MK party has “proof” that vote-rigging allegedly went on “in the background” when the IEC dashboard crashed.
The former president said no one must force or rush the party into believing that the election ran smoothly.
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“I think the IEC should satisfy us that they did have a look into the matter… We are going to need time, and nobody must declare tomorrow,” Zuma said.
“No. If that happens, people will be provoking us because we know what we are talking about. We are not guessing; we are not children who keep quiet when you give them sweets.
“Give the political parties, which I think are a majority, a chance to present their cases. Don’t rush us.”
Mosotho Moepye, the IEC chairperson, said the commission has received 579 objections from political parties.
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Moepye said the objections were understandable given the pressure parties faced during the election.
The IEC chairperson said the commission would listen to all arguments but maintained that results would be declared on Sunday.
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