GEORGE NEWS - With the results of various voting stations still being awaited, early indications are that a coalition, or parties working together, could lead the way in the new George City Council.
Dr Dennis Farrell, business leader and former councillor, this afternoon said at 15:30 altogether 32,2% of the votes had been counted.
At that time the DA had 50,85%, the ANC 13,62%, Good 13,47 %, the PBI 10,01% and the Freedom Front Plus 5,93%.
He stressed that it is merely a percentage, and that the final number of proportional seats has not yet been calculated.
With the results coming in, it is a moving target and things could still change.
Looking at the present figures, it is most likely that the so-called smaller parties will play an important role.
All indications are that there will be a low voting percentage that could favour the smaller parties in the proportional representation.
Piet van der Hoven, election coordinator of the ANC, this afternoon said it is still early days. At this stage it seems that DA will have the most votes, but won’t govern George on its own. In other words, they won’t have an outright majority.
If the DA gets the most votes, it seems they will look to the Freedom Front Plus and the ACDP to govern. Van der Hoven doubts if that will be enough for the DA to form a governing administration. According to him the Covid-19 situation played a role in the low voting turnout. In the less affluent areas it played a large role.
Deputy leader of the DA in the Western Cape Tertuis Simmers said there are still voting stations that must be declared. “We are waiting for the IEC to formally declare them.”
The DA is optimistic that the wishes of the majority of the voters in George will be respected.
Johan du Toit of the ACDP said they won’t dare to predict what the result will be. “I expect the ACDP to do better than in 2016 - how much better I do not know. The DA and FF Plus did very well and we congratulate them. Thank you to the voters who voted for the ACDP.”
Adv Gert van Niekerk of the Freedom Front Plus said this afternoon that the situation is still the same. He said this morning that although the outcome was influenced by the weather, it would not have made a big difference in the overall result.
Virgill Gericke of the PBI said they are awaiting the final results of the IEC. “Many concerns were raised in the meantime. The party contemplates asking for investigations into these very serious issues. It may have a material impact on the election results.”
To follow the results live, visit https://www.elections.org.za/pw/ and click on “View live municipal elections results”. Then click on Western Cape, and George.
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