2 May 2014
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) opens its central Results Operation Centre at the Tshwane Events Centre in Pretoria on Thursday.
More than 25.3-million people have registered to vote in the country’s fifth democratic elections on 7 May – a 9.5% increase in registered voters compared to the 2009 polls – and the centre will serve as both as the organising hub of the election as well as the IEC’s temporary headquarters before, during and immediately after the election.
“Since the first elections managed by the Electoral Commission in 1999, the Results and Operations Centre has been set up each election as a vibrant meeting point for political parties, the media, observer missions from other parts of the world and many other stakeholders in the period immediately before and after the election,” IEC chairperson Pansy Tlakula said at Thursday’s opening.
“As an operations or nerve centre, the facility enables us not only to monitor and coordinate operations nationally but also to field and process queries as they arise. The technology behind the Centre also allows us to provide designated workstations for political representatives and members of the media so that they can monitor results in real time from their allocated booths.”
There are 10 Results Operation Centres across the country where the results will stream in at the conclusion of voting until the official results are declared. These results will come in from the 22 363 voting stations that have been set up by the IEC across the country.
“We are ready to capture the results and give South Africans the final result when the poll is done as we have done in the past,” Tlakula said.
IEC deputy chairperson Terry Tselane said the results centre was “fundamentally about transparency … This year we have more than 31 media houses represented at the centre including 11 radio stations and international television stations”.
Source: SAnews.gov