A new election results system (ERS) will allow public broadcaster SABC to link with the Independent Electoral Commission’s results system at voting districts during South Africa’s general elections on 22 April.
The technology will therefore allow the SABC to access results as incoming. Amongst the features of the ERS are election flashes (results alerts), predictions, and comparisons of previous voting patterns, party and area summaries, as well as the tracking of prominent candidates and women politicians.
Results maps and other analysis based on the Geographic Information System are also integrated into the ERS together with a variety of socio-economic and population statistics.
The SABC sees the ERS as a way of fulfilling both its editorial and regulatory obligations as stipulated in the policies mandated by the Indpendent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).
“Broadcasters, particularly the public broadcaster, have an obligation to inform the electorate of the election results as they become available,” said head of news and current affairs, Dr Snuki Zikalala. "As coverage of election results also includes comment, analysis and interpretation, special care should be taken to ensure the accuracy and immediacy of results that we broadcast.”
Zikalala noted that the system will afford SABC journalists the ability to prepare story options for all results stages and package the information in easy-to-understand reports. “It simply means that we can do more insightful analysis of the results and voting patterns, presenting the SABC with opportunities to get stories that go beyond basic reporting.”
