The DA says it has placed “enough muscle” to ensure the party’s first virtual federal congress will be held successfully on October 31.
The congress will be held virtually for the first, and the party’s federal chairperson Ivan Meyer said the congress puts the party in line with a digital future.
The congress will see over 2 000 delegates vote for new leadership between competing opponents, KZN MPL Mbali Ntuli and interim leader John Steenhuisen.
There will also be a vote for the position of federal council chairperson, a position currently held by Helen Zille. DA Gauteng chief whip Mike Moriarty will be competing against Zille.
There will also be votes on resolutions and possible constitutional amendments.
The event will see delegates vote online via the Opavote system. The congress’ presiding officer, Greg Krumbock, said the system was internationally recognised as a safe and reliable platform.
The system was also tested during a dry run event held at the weekend which saw about 50% of delegates join the platform to test its capabilities.
There will be two models, an online platform which will allow delegates at home to join, and 39 hybrid venues across the country which will see some delegates attend and participate in the conference.
Each hybrid venue will be organised in line with Covid-19 restrictions and there will be laptops for delegates who will be voting at the venues. There will be a deputy presiding officer at each venue to oversee and assist delegates.
Krumbock said the voting system would open at 11am on October 31 and will be open for five hours – giving enough time for delegates to cast their votes.
Through the Opavote system, and to ensure no double voting takes place, each delegate would receive an SMS link accompanied by a unique user ID, and this would enable delegates to vote.
Following the closure of the voting system, votes would be backed up on a flash drive and no one will know the final results, Krumbock insisted.
The flash drive would then be taken by the voting auditor to a safe, sealed in an envelope, where it would be kept overnight. Candidate agents would be allowed to view this process and accompany the auditing officer on Sunday to collect the flash drive, and the results would be input into the Opavote system and announced by 2pm on Sunday.
Krumbock said there was no fear of leaks before Sunday as no one would know the results until then.
On questions of whether candidates would be allowed to assess their performance, Krumbock said an electronic footprint of the results would be made available to candidates.
Political Bureau