IEC and Media Monitoring Africa weigh in on fair elections

Free and fair elections; we shout it and demand it, but in the end, what does it really mean? People’s Assembly attended a round table hosted by The Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office and the Hans Seidel Foundation, where representatives of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) dissected what it means to have free and fair elections, and whether or not South Africa has reached that threshold.

Perspective from the IEC

The first speaker, Reverend Courtney Sampson, who is the IEC Western Cape head, conveyed his notions of fair and free elections through his experiences at the Commission.

He defined fair and free elections as the ability to exercise free speech and to have access to proper infrastructure and electoral procedures. In his view, it is hard to think of a fair and free election when there are electoral venues in areas with high population densities, small geographic space and improper infrastructure. These infrastructure issues are key to running effective and fair elections. Reverend Sampson said that the biggest issue was personnel training and fatigue during the elections. For example, employees will be fatigued and prone to make errors in scenarios where they have to open polling stations by 7am, close at 9pm, and then count the votes through the night. The margin of error is exacerbated when the same employee has to work from the opening of special elections all the way through Election Day. The Reverend suggested that a solution to this prevalent problem is electronic voting. Although he was unsure as to the best way to go about electronic voting, he said that the important point was to raise the issue, have some sort of technocrat come up with a plan and use that plan as a basis for fair and free elections. He recognised that people would be suspicious of an electronic system, but was optimistic in finding a proper solution with the aid of experts.

Rev Sampson emphasised the need for better training. He stressed that people need to shift their focus from a party-oriented mindset to a patriotic attitude. He pointed out that one of the biggest issues was party agents who are too desperate to report election results in an area to notice procedural errors. He noted that people have an erroneous notion that during the election the IEC is “doing its own thing,” and emphasised that the right notion was to have the IEC do its job with the support of political parties. In his view, there is a difference between determination and desperation, and the parties’ desperation has made the procedural issues worse. Furthermore, he remarked that if people are trained with a patriotic attitude, instead of an attitude of getting in there, earning money and going home, they would be more likely to catch procedural errors.

Overall, Reverend Sampson defined fair and free speech as the true ability to express free speech, and one of the ways to express free speech is through an effective electoral system. Only then, will the South African people have a system geared towards fair and free elections.

Media Perspective

After Reverend Sampson’s speech, the director of MMA, William Bird took the podium. Bird based his analysis on what it means to have free and fair elections through the media. According to him people should ask the following questions when thinking about elections: Is the coverage comprehensive? And was the coverage people-centered?

Bird then proceeded to dissect media coverage with these questions in mind. Some of the bigger and most interesting issues included the correlation between media coverage and electoral results. According to Bird, most of the media coverage is dedicated to the ANC (38.2%), DA (20.3%) and EFF (13.4%). However, media coverage did not necessarily translate into votes, and the biggest anomaly was the AIC, which racked up 3% of the votes and none of the media coverage.

Bird addressed the issue of people thinking that the AIC only received 3% of the votes because ANC members mistook the AIC for the ANC. As he pointed out, it makes no sense that 3% of the population would have made that type of error, as such; it is possible that the media did not paint an accurate picture of the political landscape.

Other important and interesting issues included political party “word clouds,” gender inequality and youth misrepresentation. Word clouds are a type of infographic, where the size of a word correlates with the number of times that it was mentioned. Interestingly, in all but one party (EFF, which had two small words on e-tolls and land) the party name, the opponents, and the party leaders were the biggest words. According to Bird, this meant two things: one, that politicians were not saying much or two, that the media was so biased that it did not get the proper quotes. However, he noted that the media in South Africa was not very biased for fear of alienating voters, making it rather boring. On the other hand, there were indicators that the agenda was set by politicians for the top topics on the media agenda were: party corruption, party politics, election logistics and election results. As such, the media was fair in that it shied away from issues that alienate viewers, yet there is indication that there might be political influence.

The last two points are of special interest to women and youth who make up 50% and 40% of the population, respectively. According to the media statistics, only 25% of women are quoted in the media, despite their large involvement in politics. These statistics were shocking to many in the room, because women participation seemed to be strong in places of power.

The People’s Assembly followed up on this issue by speaking with previous Swedish MP and political watchdog, Birgitta Wistrand. She mentioned that the government needed more initiatives when dealing with women empowerment. According to Wistrand, change starts at the top. As for youth enfranchisement, Bird mentioned that youth apathy was a problem that needed to be addressed. He used the example of the Western Cape, and how the median age of the population was twenty-five years old, yet the politicians were increasingly older. Bird noted that this was an issue for the older politicians tend to be removed from the issues that affect the youth, which make up a large part of the constituency. Furthermore, he highlighted that the youth were often discouraged from participating in politics because they felt that the government lacked any accountability.

In a Q&A session later, Reverend Sampson added that many young people who are struggling with drugs, gangs and teenage pregnancy are more concerned with day-to day issues as opposed to politics.

Bird defined fair and free elections as the free and fair flow of information through the media. In order for a system to be free and fair, the media needs to be comprehensive and people-centered. Furthermore, people and parties need to be represented in a way that paints a clear picture of the political landscape. Lastly, a political structure that misrepresents a large percentage of the population can hardly be said to be fair. As such, action needs to take place to keep youth involved and representatives aware.

By Camila Rodriguez, J.D. Candidate 2016