South Africa’s ruling party is trailing the main opposition in the capital, biggest city and a metropolitan area named after the country’s first black President.
South African municipal election results will reveal whether the African National Congress (ANC) is losing its grip on power two decades after the end of apartheid.
The ANC has won more than 60 percent of the vote at every election since Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the country’s first black president in 1994.
But 22 years after the fall of white-minority rule, a faltering economy, rampant corruption and high unemployment have eaten into the party’s popularity.
Bloomberg have announced that the Democratic Alliance is leading in Tshwane, the municipality that includes the capital, Pretoria, with 46.5 percent, while the ANC has 40.6 percent of the vote. In Johannesburg, the ruling party trails the main opposition with 41.1 percent of the vote compared with the DA’s 43.3 percent.
The DA also leads the tally in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, which includes Port Elizabeth, with 55.9 percent compared with the ANC’s 34.7 percent, and looks set to increase its majority in Cape Town.
“It’s a positive that that no one knows who is going to win in many of the major metros,” DA leader Mmusi Maimane said in Pretoria.
“I am looking forward to the results as they keep trickling in.”
With 4.9 million, or about 32 percent of the votes cast nationally counted as of 7:20 a.m. on Thursday in Pretoria, the ANC had 51.4 percent of the total support, followed by the Democratic Alliance at 31.6 percent, according to the Independent Electoral Commission.
The Economic Freedom Fighters stood at 6.7 percent.
The ANC may win 54 percent of the overall vote, its worst showing since it swept to power under Nelson Mandela in 1994, according to Ipsos.
In the 2011 local elections it had a majority in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay, according to an opinion poll by research company Ipsos released on Aug. 2.
With no party expected to pass the 50 percent mark in all three centers, Africa’s most-industrialized country may need coalitions to run key municipalities in its richest province, Gauteng.
The partial results may not be an accurate indication of the final outcome as counting from rural areas and townships where the ANC has historically had more support tends to take longer.
A record 26.3 million people registered to choose mayors and other local representatives responsible for crucial issues including water, sanitation and power supplies.
The local vote is also seen as a mid-term reflection on the performance of the ANC and the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, who has been plagued by scandals since he took office in 2009.
Even if the ANC maintains its hold on power through inter-party alliances, any overall drop in support would be a loss, say analysts.
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