Elections throws up several suprises in the Eastern Cape

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The elections in the Eastern Cape have thrown up a number of suprises as the ANC continues its march to an overwhelming and dominant victory in the province.

NMMU political expert, Dr Joleen Steyn-Kotze, highlighted two surprises, with more than 60% of the Eastern Cape ballots already counted.

She said the first suprise was in the Baviaans Municipality.

"When the elctoral results came in the ANC came in with around 49% compared to 46% of the DA. What is interesting if you compare it that with the 2009 results, both the ANC and DA increased in support in the Baviaans Municipality." says Steyn-Kotze.

The second suprise, according to Steyn-Kotze, was the emergence of the African Independent Congress, a minority party born in 2005 out of the struggles of residents of Matatiele to cede from the Eastern Cape and become part of Kwazulu Natal.

The AIC won 10 seats in Mataliele Municipality in the 2006 local government elections, 1 seat in the Eastern Cape provincial legislature in the 2009 elections and 7 seats in the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal in the 2011 local government elections.

"It has now popped up in terms of being either the 3rd or 4th largest party in areas toward the west, so you looking at what we would consider DA strongholds. Th AIC has made an appearance in Blue Crane, Jansenville, Makana, Port Alfred and Sunday River municipalities." says Steyn-Kotze.

Meanwhile, Steyn-Kotze says preliminary results show a high voter turn-out in the Senqu Municipality which incorporates Sterkspruit, identified as an election hot-spot.

She said at last check the vote count at Senqu had been at 96.8%.

Steyn-Kotze told Algoa FM News that at that stage the voter turn-out was over 61%, which she said was suprising given that residents in Sterkspruit, campaigning for their own municipality, had called for an election boycott.

"In the municipality the ANC maintained a very dominant position with 84% , so very much in line with former results. The DA increased to 4.98% and the EFF made a showing at 4.99%, what is interesting is that the DA and the EFF are quite close."

In another election suprise, Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters got 1.37% of the vote in the Whites Only enclacve of Orania.

Orania spokesperson, Jaco Kleynhans, they don't really care if people living in Orania voted for the EFF.

The Freedom Front Plus is the leading party in the town with 224 votes, the ANC got five votes in Orania.

Meanwhile, Malelma's party has secured five seats in Parliament.

Political analyst Cherrel Africa says there are underlying factors for the turn out so far.

"The EFF ran a very effective and highly visible election campaign. Their events generated significant media coverage and they were also quite innovative in their campaign strategies. They speak to a previously excluded constituency and many of their members come from the ANC so they understand the importance of branch structures as well as on the ground organising." says Africa.