Our new election module carried results from the Czech Statistical Office in real time, faster than anyone else on the market. On the Blesk, e15 and Reflex websites the data updated within seconds, and the system handled heavy traffic during the main counting hours without any outages.
Elections are one of the biggest tests for the media. It is not only about reporters in the field and studios with guests, but above all about technology that has to cope with enormous load in real time. Every refresh means a surge. Every second of delay is immediately visible.
Elections as a technology test
Our original election module no longer met the traffic demands. The code, written years ago, could be neither efficiently maintained nor extended. “It was more efficient to start again and design the module so that it works in the coming years too,” says Milan Frýbert, who led the development.
The new PHP back end downloads data from the Czech Statistical Office, calculates seats and evaluates shifts in party support compared with previous elections. The Vue.js front end then presents the results in a clear and interactive form, from overviews of seats to the option of putting together your own coalitions. Thanks to embeds, results charts and overviews made their way directly into articles on all our websites.
The technological challenge
The hardest part was not the programming itself, but preparing for extreme traffic and the way the state publishes its data. The Czech Statistical Office does not provide a modern API, but sends the results via FTP. The developers therefore had to set their own download intervals, monitor updates and make sure the system responds without delay, even with tens of thousands of users at the same time.
A team that delivered
The new election module faced its first real load test today. And it passed. It ran without outages during the count, responded in real time and handled heavy traffic without a single slip. Throughout, developers were present in the newsrooms, ready to deal with any situation immediately. “Time is measured in minutes during elections,” adds Lubor Zoufal. “And this time everything ran just as we had imagined.”
Trust rests on technology
In the media, a simple rule applies: when broadcasts fail, trust is lost. On election day, nobody can afford that. Today we passed the test, with performance, accuracy and stability.
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