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Illustrative image | sources: Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius | Waldo Swiegers / Bloomberg via Getty Images | municipalities.co.za
The results of the by-elections coming out of the Western Cape show that the Democratic Alliance retains eight districts but loses one to the GOOD party. The DA has seen a loss of support in several areas.
The leader of the Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape, Bongiknosi Madikizela, says the party needs to pick up its socks following its defeats during the Super Wednesday by-elections on November 11.
“We need to put our house in order,” Madikizela said, speaking with Daily maverick after the publication of the preliminary results of the 11 by-elections in the Western Cape.
While there was concern about the drop in support, the DA provincial leader was optimistic about the party’s growth in Philippi.
ANC has Ward 88 (Philippi Phola Park) in Cape Town ANC 46% (71%) EFF 26% (8%) DA 22% (19%) ABC 3%. Participation 15% (51%) / Participation worryingly low. EFF has great growth. DA will be satisfied. Regarding the fall for the ANC
– Wayne Sussman (@waynesussman) November 12, 2020
You can see the results of the by-elections at 11:00 on Thursday, November 11. here.
According to the Independent Election Commission, the Office of the Prosecutor retained eight districts of the 11 in the Western Cape.
The ANC retained two districts in Philippi and Langa in Cape Town, while GOOD won a district for the first time in its youth. The district, in George, had been won by the district attorney in the 2016 local elections.
DA losses are easy to see:
- In Knysna’s 9th district, the party experienced a drop from 93.39% to 76.07%.
- In Saldanha bay’s District 13, where the councilman resigned from the prosecutor to join GOOD, the prosecutor won the district, but the party’s support fell from 71.50% support in 2016 to 44.62% in these by-elections.
- In Ward 3 in Drakenstein, support for the District Attorney dropped from 84.38% to 68.38%.
Madikizela attributes some of these losses to two things: People remained cautious about Covid-19, and “people are not very excited about the elections.”
The by-elections saw a 37% drop in voter turnout at the national level.
Madikizela said the Western Cape result was a warning from voters to the district attorney and they needed to be heard now.
In Knysna, recently visited by Daily maverick, the district attorney retained two districts despite two known candidates opposed.
Read on Daily Maverick: Knysna candidates band together for key fight
The district attorney retained both districts and now has 10 council seats.
DA District Chief Dr. Deon George said Daily maverick the party would approach its initial coalition partner, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), to regain control of the Knysna council.
Before this by-election, the ANC was in coalition with COPE and the local Knysna Unity Congress (KUC) party to control the municipality.
George said Daily maverick He was happy with the result and that the hard work begins now to “return to governance” in the municipality.
“We congratulate all of our candidates, true sons and daughters of their communities, for the honorable and worthy campaigns they fought,” GOOD national organizer Shaun August said in a statement Thursday morning.
“In particular, we congratulate Richard Hector, our councilman representing the people of District 27 (Pacaltsdorp) in George.”
ANC Western Cape coordinator Lerumo Kalako said the match was buoyed by the two rooms he held in Cape Town.
“[We] We believe we will radically improve our 2016 local election results in next year’s local government elections.
“There will be no easy road to 2021 for the right-wing district attorney. The DA is not unbeatable in the Western Cape. Yesterday we saw that voters are deserting the DA, ”the ANC said in a statement.
The formal results were to be released by the Independent Electoral Commission later on Thursday. DM
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