New SABC election results system

This way, the broadcaster should be able to fulfil both its editorial and regulatory obligations, as stipulated in ICASA policies.

"Broadcasters, particularly the public broadcaster, have an obligation to inform the electorate of the election results as they become available," said SABC head of news and current affairs 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."

Stay ahead of the competition

With the ERS, the SABC hopes to stay ahead of the competition as far as election results are concerned.

"This system will afford our 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.

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.