Today, there are more countries practising democracy in Africa than at any stage of human development on the continent. However, most newly democratic countries still show remnants of precedents set by colonialism and past autocratic regimes. One of the litmus tests in a democracy is the holding of free and fair elections. The media occupy a central role in this process, but the constraints imposed on formal mainstream media in many African countries have affected the role of the media in election monitoring and observation. The principles of transparency and credibility in election results reporting remain elusive. This article analyses how two civil society organisations, the Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) and Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) utilised Facebook and mobile phone SMSs to conduct parallel voter tabulation (PVT) of the 2015 presidential by-election in Zambia and publish election results in real time, so as to restore transparency and credibility in the electoral process. The argument made here is that this has complemented formal mainstream media to create a converged media system where new and old media convene to improve the role of the media in election monitoring and observation.