The ANC has fallen below 50% in the Eastern Cape, with the party losing ground in Buffalo City and trailing the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay as municipal election results trickle in.
And with about two-thirds of the vote still to be counted, the race remains wide open, and the picture could still change.
With 34% of the provincial vote counted by 9.30am on Thursday, the ANC had secured 47.39%, according to the Electoral Commission of SA, or the IEC.
The DA was second with 20.18%, followed by the SACP on 5.52%.
The SACP is contesting the elections separately from its long-time alliance partner, the ANC.
The EFF had 5.12%, the UDM 4.8%, the ATM 3.41%, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) 2.75%.
The province has long been one of the ANC’s strongholds, and the party won more than 60% of the vote there in the 2024 provincial election.
President Cyril Ramaphosa predicted a big win for the ANC in the province when he campaigned door to door in KuGompo City, formerly East London, last month.
“This is an ANC province; the victory is going to be huge,” Ramaphosa said at the time.
The ANC had won outright control of one of the province’s 33 councils so far and was the biggest party in the two councils left hung, with 30 councils still to be calculated.
It had won 56 seats across the province, against the DA’s 20.
In Buffalo City, which the ANC won outright with 59.4% of the vote in 2021, the party was on 38.37% with 30% of the votes counted.
The DA had 21.83% and the UDM 18.72%, a sharp rise for a party that won 1% in the metro in 2021.
The SACP had 5.82% and the EFF 4.86% in the metro, which is run by ANC mayor Princess Faku.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, the DA had 41.38% with 25% of votes counted, ahead of the ANC on 26.22%.
The EFF had 5.2%, the PA 4.57% and the Mayibuye Civic Movement 2.88%.
The ANC and DA each won 48 of the metro’s 120 seats in 2021, and Nelson Mandela Bay has had several mayors since as coalitions formed and collapsed.
The metro is governed by an ANC-led coalition under mayor Babalwa Lobishe.
In Dr Beyers Naudé, which includes Graaff-Reinet, the DA had 39.54% and the ANC 37.35% with 88% of votes counted.
That leaves the PA, on 15.25%, in a position to hold the balance of power in the council.
The ANC won 11 of the council’s 24 seats in 2021 and the DA 10, with the DA going on to form a coalition government.
In Kouga, which includes Jeffreys Bay, the DA was on 67.98% with 54% of votes counted, well ahead of the ANC on 16.57% and the PA on 6.92%.
Nationally, the ANC had 31.54% and the DA 29.96% with 22% of votes counted, while the PA had won 41 seats, the third most of any party.
The ANC had won control of four councils across the country and the DA one, with 14 councils hung and 194 still to be calculated.
IOL
Brandon Nel
iol.co.za