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JOHANNESBURG. – South Africans went out in their numbers, young and old, to vote and now all eyes are on the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) as the counting continues and the results trickled after a late voting surge kept many polling stations open with snaking queues late into the night.
With 32 percent of the national ballot captured, the African National Congress (ANC) was yesterday leading nationally with just over 1,7 million votes (42,19 percent), the Democratic Alliance had 1 028 255 (24,88 percent) while new kid on the political block, uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) was in third place with 378 990 (9,19 percent).
A total of 7 658 out of 23 293 voting districts completed had completed their counting. This translates to more than 3,8 million votes that have been counted.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) had 7,72 percent of support with 373 099 votes followed by the Patriotic Alliance (PA) with 4,56 percent (27 175).
In the 2019 elections, the ANC won a 57,5 percent majority, followed by the DA getting 20,77 percent and the EFF 10,8 percent.
In Gauteng, the DA had 56,98 percent of the National Assembly vote, followed by the ANC with 16,02 percent and the Freedom Front Plus (FFPlus) at 15,46 percent. In the Provincial Legislature, the DA had 44,58 percent of support, followed by the ANC’s 27,98 percent and FFPlus’ 11,02 percent.
Meanwhile, in the Western Cape, a DA stronghold, with 47 percent of the votes being declared, the party is leading with 52 percent of the votes, the ANC at almost 21 percent and Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance, trailing behind with almost 10 percent of the votes. Thus far, 748 of 1 572 voting districts have been declared.
Voter turnout in the province was 58.45 percent.
The Northern Cape was nearing completion with almost 84 percent of the voting districts declared, which accounts for 615 voting districts.
Counting was proceeding the slowest in the Limpopo province at 11,1 percent which accounts for 357 voting districts. The number of spoilt votes has also increased to 1,34 percent nationally.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC had 38,01 percent support in the National Assembly counting, followed by the MK Party with 36.89 percent and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) at 12.69 percent. With 0,8 percent of the Provincial Legislature results counted, the MK Party had 39,91 percent of support followed by the ANC’s 25,17 percent and the IFP’s 15.49 percent.
Former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, ruled out a coalition with the ANC, as the MKParty is poised to be a kingmaker in KwaZulu-Natal.
Speaking to journalists at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) national results centre, she said her father, the leader of the MK Party, had indicated he was open to working with “progressive black parties”.
She said it did not include the ANC.
Asked whether the MK Party would work with the EFF, she said it was a “possibility”. – Agencies
Online Reporter