Are official election results processed by an electronic tabulation system?

Electoral Processes [No. 35 of 2016]

Article 74
Electronic transmission of results

The Commission may use electronic means to transmit results from polling stations.

EU Election Observation Mission – ZAMBIA, General Elections and Referendum 2016

At the totalling centres, results from polling station forms were manually tallied, while in parallel they were entered in an electronic results management system (RMS), on condition that forms were complete and figures reconciled. This procedure, while intended as a safeguard, caused a number of results forms to be finalised at the totalling centres. This exercise largely seemed an attempt to remedy form filling deficiencies which occurred at the compilation of polling station results by overly fatigued presiding officers. For the presidential election, all results forms were scanned via the RMS and transmitted together with electronic results.

EU EOM observers reported that the RMS transmission via satellite and mobile network was slow, delaying the electronic transmission of results to the national server in several cases and particularly in rural areas. One single computer for data entries and results transmission was often seen as being the bottleneck. Two tests of the RMS were conducted prior to the elections, demonstrating that the system was not completely reliable and that fax might need to be used as a backup transmission system. Issues on performance of the RMS were not clearly communicated to the public ahead of Election Day.