NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS 2019: THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS - South African National ...
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NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL
ELECTIONS 2019:
THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN
FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
1. Elections and the Constitution
2. The mandate and role of the Electoral
Commission
3. The importance of information for free and fair
elections
4. The role of the media in free and fair elections
5. Covering elections: Do’s and Don’ts
6. Challenges for the media and elections
2
ELECTIONS AND THE CONSTITUTION
• The Constitution is the foundation of South Africa’s
electoral democracy
• The founding provisions of the Constitution
establishes the Republic of South Africa as one,
sovereign, democratic state founded on the following
values:
(a) Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the
advancement of human rights and freedoms.
(b) Non-racialism and non-sexism.
(c) Supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law.
(d) Universal adult suffrage, a national common voters’
roll, regular elections and a multiparty system of
democratic government, to ensure accountability,
responsiveness and openness.
3DEFENDING DEMOCRACY
• The Constitution establishes a range of State Institutions
Supporting Constitutional Democracy. These include:
– The Public Protector
– The South Africa Human Rights Commission
– The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of
Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities
– The Commission for Gender Equality
– The Auditor-General
– The Electoral Commission
• Commonly referred to as “Chapter Nine” institutions these
institutions are
– independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law
– must be impartial and exercise their powers and perform they
functions without fear, favour or prejudice.
– they are accountable to the National Assembly.
4THE MANDATE AND ROLE OF THE
ELECTORAL COMMISSION
• With reference to the Electoral Commission, the Constitution
mandates it to:
– manage elections of national, provincial and municipal legislative
bodies in accordance with national legislation;
– ensure those elections are free and fair; and
– declare the results of those elections with a period that must be
prescribed by national legislation and that is as short as reasonably
possible.
• The Electoral Commission Act of 1996 builds on this core
mandate and sets out the powers, duties and functions of the
Commission
• These include managing elections, maintaining the voters’ roll,
engaging with stakeholders, conducting voter education,
reviewing electoral legislation and promoting conditions
conducive to free and fair elections
5THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION AND
INFORMATION IN ELECTIONS
• Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States
and the author of the Declaration of Independence
famously once wrote that an informed electorate is a
prerequisite for democracy
• Of the 19 functions, powers and duties specified in the
Electoral Commission Act, seven directly involve the
dissemination of information, promotion of knowledge and
communication and engagement with stakeholders.
• Without the sharing of information and knowledge there
can be no free and fair elections!
7THE MEDIA AND FREE AND FAIR
ELECTIONS
• A free and fair election is not only about the freedom to vote and the
knowledge of how to cast a vote, but also about a participatory process
where voters engage in public debate and have adequate information
about parties, policies, candidates and the election process itself in
order to make informed choices
• The Electoral Code of Conduct mandates that every party and
candidate:
• Must respect the role of the media before, during and after an election.
• May not prevent access by members of the media to public political meetings,
marches, demonstrations and rallies.
• Must take every reasonable step to ensure that journalists are not subjected to
harassment, intimidation, hazard, threat or physical assault by any of their
representatives or supporters.
8THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN FREE
AND FAIR ELECTIONS
• There are four key roles the media play in free and
fair elections:
– Providing accurate information
– Providing fair and balanced analysis
– Providing a forum for open debate and discussion
– Providing a watchdog role to ensure all role players
conduct themselves in accordance with all
applicable laws, regulations and procedures
9PROVIDING INFORMATION
• Factual information on electoral processes:
– Where, when and how to register
– Where, when and how to vote
– How elections work:
• Voting
• Counting
• Results
• Seat allocations
• Objections, appeals
• Code of Conduct
10PROVIDING INFORMATION
• Factual information on key role players
– Electoral Commission and Electoral Court
• Roles, responsibilities and mandates
– Contestants:
• Who are the contestants in an election
• What differentiates them (manifestos)
– Observers:
• Role and mandate
11ANALYSIS AND DEBATE
• The media also provide a crucial analysis of parties,
candidates to help voters make informed choices
• This includes:
– Analysis of their manifestos (are they realistic)
– Analysis of their promises and claims (are they accurate)
– Analysis of their past performance as governing parties
and opposition parties
• It also includes providing opportunities for the exchange
and debate of ideas and view points
• The rise of social media has significantly contributed to
interaction and exchange of information over the past
decade
12WATCHDOG OVER ELECTIONS
• The media perform a key watchdog role in elections
• This includes holding all role players up for scrutiny and
accountability to ensure they perform their roles within the
“rules of the game”
• Electoral Commission and all officials
• Political parties, leaders and contestants
• The state (ensuring there is no undue influence or
abuse of power, resources)
• This requires knowledge of and familiarity with electoral
legislation, regulations, processes and systems
13COVERING ELECTIONS: VOTING STATIONS
• No formal accreditation with the Electoral Commission is required for access to
a voting station
• But members of the media are required to identify themselves clearly as
members of the media by presenting a valid media/press card
You should:
• Introduce yourself to the Presiding Officer and request access
• You may ask how voting is proceeding at that voting station
• Ask permission from voters to photograph them and publish their photographs
• Conduct any interviews with voters, observers or party agents outside of the
boundaries of the voting station
You should not:
• Interfere in any way with the voting or counting process
• Undermine the secrecy of the vote (it is illegal to photograph a completed ballot
paper)
• Interview any election official except the Presiding Officer
• Expect the Presiding Officer to provide information on voting or counting
outside of their VS or on any issues outside of their area of responsibility (They
are not spokespersons for the Electoral Commission)
14COVERING ELECTIONS: RESULTS
Exit polls:
• In terms of the Section 109 of the Electoral Act, No 73 of 1998, no
persons including the media may print, publish or distribute any exit
polls taken in the elections during the hours of voting (7am to 9pm)
National and Provincial Results Centres:
• Accreditation is required to access the National Results Operation
Centre (NROC) atT shwane Show Grounds and Provincial Results
Operations Centres (capital cities of each province)
• The media will be advised on accreditation process in due course
• The process to secure media facilities (offices, broadcast facilities) in
the NROC will also be launched soon
15COVERING ELECTIONS: RESULTS
Access to election and results data
• To make information more accessible to all South Africans, the Electoral
Commission has developed application programme interfaces (APIs) to
provide election results data in real-time to political parties, media
institutions, and other interested parties.
• This source data includes real-time voter and voting station information,
including mapping and election results data, as well as other generic
information.
• To access the Electoral Commission’s API, interested parties and media
organisations must apply: webmaster@elections.org.za.
• For more detailed specification information and sample code, calling
parameters and structure of the returned data, please visit
https://api.elections.org.za
16CHALLENGES FOR THE MEDIA
The rise of disinformation
• The rapid growth of social media over the past decade has been both a
blessing and a challenge to electoral democracy.
• On the positive side, social media channels have provided platforms for
rapid and easy access to information and for engagement and debate.
• It has been particularly powerful tool for engaging with young voters
• But evidence of disinformation (“fake news”) potentially impacting on
global elections from the United States, to France, the UK and South
Africa have thrust the issue of social media and elections into the
spotlight in recent years
• Ahead of NPE 2019, the Electoral Commission has partnered with civil
society organisations (Media Monitoring Africa), media representatives
(Press Council and SANEF) and social media companies, including
Facebook and Twitter, to establish a committee to investigate instances
of disinformation on social media and to recommend possible remedies
to the Electoral Commission.
17CHALLENGES FOR THE MEDIA
The rise in the number of contestants
• In 2016 Municipal Elections we saw a record number of 34
parties contesting the Cape Town Metro
• Electoral Commission anticipates record number of parties will
contest 2019 NPE
• Current number registered at a national level: 285
• Number of parties added to national register since January 2018:
47
• Number of applications for national registration currently under
consideration: 37
• The increasing number of parties presents challenges in terms of
providing information to voters on all parties
18CHALLENGES FOR THE MEDIA
Lack of resources, experience
• The declining profitability of traditional media over the past few
years has been well documented
• It has led to a reduction in the number of journalists
• At the same time the media in South Africa is facing a challenge
of a vast array of competing news stories
• As pointed out, for the media to effectively perform its essential
role in free and fair elections requires journalists and senior
editorial staff to be knowledgeable of electoral legislation,
regulations and processes
• The Electoral Commission will assist as much as we can with
training and providing information on electoral processes
• But media companies must also assist by providing dedicated
and knowledgeable journalists to cover complex issues
19THANK YOU
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