MK Party’s 2024 Election Challenge Dismissed by Electoral Court
The Electoral Court has dismissed the MK Party’s challenge to the integrity of the IEC’s digital vote-capturing system used in the 2024 national and provincial elections.
The case centred on the “leaderboard incident” of 31 May 2024, when the public results dashboard went blank for about two hours. The MK Party argued this indicated interference and raised doubts about whether the results reflected voters’ will.
The court rejected the application on two grounds. First, the party failed to follow the mandatory objections procedure under section 55 of the Electoral Act, making its review attempt “not competent in law.” On the merits, the court accepted the IEC’s explanation that a display flag was inadvertently set to “not ready for display” during an optimisation process. The audit trail showed results continued to be captured, no data was lost, and verification was unaffected.
The court preferred the IEC’s evidence, based on proven facts, over the MK Party’s case, which rested on inferences. It concluded the party had not shown the results system lacked integrity.
The IEC welcomed the judgment, saying it provides clarity ahead of the 4 November 2026 local government elections. The Commission will finalise an independent audit of the results system, with political parties invited to test it from 5 to 12 October 2026.
MK Party leader Jacob Zuma has insisted the party was “robbed” in 2024, while pledging there would be “no trouble” at the November polls.
