Technology, which has become a key feature in the running of elections, was last night spotlighted at the local government elections results announcement.
According to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), tech tools and software assisted in the receiving and processing of operational information from voting stations, strengthened oversight and assisted election managers to make timely, informed decisions.
Key among the features were the expanded fleet of voter management devices (VMDs), the virtual results operating centre (virtual ROC), as well as an application programming interface (API) that enabled media houses, political parties and stakeholders to receive preliminary results as soon as they were audited.
IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission deployed 56 000 VMDs at voting stations, after adding 16 000 during this year’s voting period.
The devices supported key areas of operational management, including monitoring voter participation, tracking ballot paper consumption, recording electoral staff attendance, and reporting on the opening and closing of voting stations.
“The commission’s total VMD deployment increased to 56 000 devices, comprising the 40 000 procured in 2021 and the additional 16 000 deployed for these elections. This expansion materially increased the technological resources available to support voting station operations.”
Mamabolo added that technology was central to the IEC’s oversight of voting station activities nationwide. “The significance of this infrastructure lies in its ability to transform election management from a largely decentralised activity into a more integrated and information-driven operational environment.”
Mamabolo highlighted the virtual ROC as another major innovation introduced for the 2026 elections.
The virtual ROC allowed political parties and candidates to remotely access selected results centre applications and reports.
According to Mamabolo, 1 149 users registered on the virtual ROC, including 85 active political parties and 328 active individual party officials. The platform recorded a cumulative 54 908 information requests.
Results were transmitted for each voting station, with the API recording 14.3 million information requests.
The IEC noted the technological investments supported an extensive national operation involving approximately 188 000 electoral staff deployed across 23 696 voting stations.
“Technology may provide the infrastructure of an election, but it is people who bring that infrastructure to life,” Mamabolo said, acknowledging the contribution of electoral personnel who worked long hours to administer voting and counting processes.
“Operational excellence is not a destination. It is a continuous institutional commitment.”
Meanwhile, the IEC also declared this year’s municipal electionsfree and fair, with a national voter turnout of 52%, which is an increase in participation compared to the 2021 polls.
Nearly 15 million citizens participated in the elections.
“A total of 29.2 million voters were registered for the 2026 municipal elections. Approximately 14.9 million South Africans cast their ballots in these elections. The national turnout for these elections is 52%, representing an increase of 6.1 percentage points from the 45.9% turnout recorded in the 2021 elections,” said IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya on Sunday, announcing the final election results at the National Results Operations Centre in Midrand.
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