/ 8 May 2014

DA, EFF win over disgruntled Cope voters in N Cape

Cope has hemorrhaged voter support in the Northern Cape
Cope has hemorrhaged voter support in the Northern Cape

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) appear to have mopped up the votes shed by the Congress of the People (Cope) in the Northern Cape national elections. 

By noon on Thursday, the DA had 96 993 votes, an increase of nearly 43 000 on the 54 215 it won in the 2009 election. This means its percentage of the votes has increased from 13% to around 24%.

The EFF had debuted with 19 382 votes, about 5%. This is around the same number of votes that the Independent Democrats won in the province in 2009 (19 584).

The ANC has yet to reach the 253 264 votes it won in 2009. At noon it was sitting at 249 968 votes, which means it retains the same 61% of the province it had in the last election.

Cope’s tally dropped from 66 082 in 2009 to 15 943 – a loss of about 50 000 votes.

By noon on Thursday, more than 90% of the voting districts in the province had been counted: 404 502 votes had been counted, of which 6 774 were spoilt. The voter turnout was 74.16%, according to the IEC.

There are just under 600 000 registered voters in the Northern Cape.

The results of the Northern Cape provincial elections largely mirror the national election results, with the ANC at 249 539 votes, just over 63% of the votes; the DA on 97 213 votes (25%) and the Economic Freedom Fighers at 18 802 (5%). Cope is in fourth place with 14 698 votes (3.74%).