/ 20 May 2011

ANC wins Jo’burg with 59% of votes

The African National Congress won control of the Johannesburg Metro, receiving more than 1,2-million votes, the Independent Electoral Commission said early on Friday.

Party leaders returned to the IEC results centre in Pretoria early on Thursday morning to some interesting developments — including that the DA retained the hotly contested Midvaal area. We spoke to ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu and DA chief strategist Ryan Coetzee.

According to the final results, the ANC received 1 272 354 votes and secured 153 seats out of a total of 260.

The party received 59% of the 2 154 506 votes cast while the Democratic Alliance was the second largest party with almost 35% of the vote. This secured them 90 seats.

The Inkatha Freedom Party and Congress of the People secured four and three seats respectively.

The ANC, DA and IFP were the only parties to win wards, while the other 10 parties secured seats by virtue of proportional representation.

The ANC was also confirmed as the largest party in Ekurhuleni, where it received 62% of the more than 1,55-million votes, which helped to secure 125 of the 202 seats in the metro.

The DA was again the second largest party with little more than 30% of the vote and 62 seats.

On Thursday the ANC was confirmed the winner of the Nelson Mandela Bay metro in a tight contest with the DA, winning 52,72% of the vote and securing 63 of the 120 seats.

The DA received nearly 41% of the votes and 48 seats, while Cope received 5% of the vote and six seats.

In Tshwane, with 99% of the votes counted, the ANC had won 55% while the DA took 38%.

Results from Cape Town and eThekwini were expected to be finalised later on Friday with the DA being the largest party in Cape Town and the ANC the largest in Durban. – Sapa