DA leads election race for Joburg as township voters stay away from the polls
Opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) was leading the ANC in Johannesburg, with just under a third (32%) of the city’s votes counted, according to statistics from the IEC shortly after lunch on Thursday.
The DA was ahead in the city with 43.3% of the vote, followed by the ANC (41.1%) and the EFF (9.9%).
News24 elections analyst Dawie Scholtz told News24 it was unlikely that any political party could secure more than 50% of the vote in Johannesburg.
“The question is: Who is going to be the biggest party – it’s probably going to be the ANC by the looks of the numbers,” Scholtz said.
“The question is whether DA plus EFF will reach 50%. I think that will be very tight. My feeling at this point is that it’s going to be about 45% ANC, 40% DA, 10% EFF.”
A key factor driving this year’s race in Johannesburg was the turnout of DA voters.
“In townships in Joburg, the turnout is around 55% and suburbs it’s looking at about 66%.”
The higher turnout in the suburbs would help the DA a lot, Scholtz said.
In 2011, the difference was 10 percentage points, and in 2014 it was six percentage points.
More on the elections
2016 Municipal Elections: when you can expect the full results
We will be gracious in defeat if we lose Nelson Mandela Bay – ANC
Final poll ahead of the elections shows DA winning three major metros
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