ANC And DA Locked In Tight Race As South Africa Counts Local Election Votes
JOHANNESBURG – Vote counting is underway across South Africa after millions of voters cast their ballots on Wednesday in local government elections widely seen as a verdict on the ruling African National Congress and on failing municipal services.
Voting stations closed at 9pm on Wednesday, 4 November, with voters still in queues at the cut-off time allowed to cast their ballots. Counting, tallying and verification continued through the night in the presence of party agents and accredited observers, Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said. 3081
A record 29.2 million people were registered to vote at 23,696 voting stations, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa. More than 1.4 million special votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday.
By Thursday morning, almost 15.9 million South Africans had cast their vote, the IEC confirmed. About 13 million voted on Wednesday itself, while roughly 1.5 million had already voted during special voting. 7076
Early results show a close national contest. With about 15 percent of voting districts counted early on Thursday, the ANC led the national proportional representation ballot with about 32 percent, followed closely by the Democratic Alliance at 31.3 percent. Later updates with 44 percent of results verified put the ANC on 31.96 percent and the DA on 27 percent.
Voters were electing councils for the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district councils and 205 local councils. Those councils then choose mayors.
The election is the first local vote for former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party, which is mounting a strong challenge in the coastal city of Durban and leading in KwaZulu-Natal.
The poll was dominated by anger over failures in water and power supply, roads and refuse collection. The ANC fell below 50 percent in municipal polls for the first time in 2021, and polls before Wednesday suggested its support could drop below 40 percent this time.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who voted at Hyde Park High School in Johannesburg, declared after casting his ballot that “our democracy is alive.”
Police said 21 election-related cases have been recorded since Sunday.
The IEC has up to seven days to declare the final results, but says it hopes to announce them by Sunday to allow municipalities to start planning their first council sittings and to give parties time to negotiate coalitions where no party has won outright. 7076