Elections 2024: A number-crunching wrap for political parties
The country’s eight metros, whose numbers were in the process of being tallied, constitute 55% of all voters.
The IEC's national results operation centre (ROC) at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - As the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) continues with vote counting on Thursday, a day after elections, it remains premature to get a sense of the full picture that would translate to the formation of the seventh Parliament.
Briefing the media on Thursday night, the general manager of the IEC Granville Abrahams revealed that 55.65% of the country’s votes had been captured.
He added that the country’s eight metros, whose numbers were in the process of being crunched, constituted 55% of all voters.
"The 55% is not 55% of the overall result. We don't know what the result is going to be until all the figures are captured."
Abrahams further said smaller municipalities had packed up after concluding the counting, adding that the voter turnout also sat at 58.69%.
MK PARTY EMERGENCE IN KZN
The newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party seems to be having a meteoric rise in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), leading the pack with just under 43% of the votes, followed by African National Congress (ANC) at 21%, and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) with 20%.
This picture has caught both the general public and political parties by surprise, because the province was previously an ANC and IFP stronghold.
Political analyst Tessa Dooms said the ANC’s loss of power in KZN was due to party’s breakaway support for former statesman Jacob Zuma’s MK Party.
This while the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are in the 4th and 5th place in the province, with 36,000 and 9,000 votes respectively.
ANC APPEARS DECIMATED IN THE NORTHERN CAPE
The ANC is under 50% in South Africa’s largest and sparsely populated province, the Northern Cape, which has for many years been the governing party’s stronghold.
It is closely followed by the DA (22%), EFF (12%) and Patriotic Alliance (PA) with 9% of the votes.
A standout in the above numbers, for now, is that the DA is invading the governing party’s territory in the early counting days of the 2024 elections.
There are suggestions that the two parties could get into bed in the Northern Cape.
ANC BREACHES 2 MILLION VOTES MARK
Nationally, the ANC has at this stage managed to breach the two million mark, scooping up over 70% of the votes.
A dominant pattern since vote counting commenced is that ANC has held on firmly to first place, but its tally has predominately been below the 50% mark.
This is not a far cry from polls suggesting that the party would not clinch an outright majority in the 2024 polls.
Failure to garner a 50% plus one majority would see the ANC in a coalition.
The DA is tailing the ANC with 23% of the votes, followed by the MK Party in third place.
Again, this picture seems to reinforce the MK Party’s sudden emergence to power, leaving the EFF out of the top three.
BALLOT BOX M.I.A.
The IEC on Thursday night also confirmed the loss of a ballot box that belonged to uMhlathuze Municipality’s Ward 14, in KwaZulu Natal.
"We had the misfortune of losing one ballot box. Before we start getting all anxious about this, it is a ballot box that contained a ballot that had already been counted and had already been reduced to a ballot slip," explained Abrahams.
However, ballots are supposed to be retained in storage for six months before discarding, he pointed out.
The IEC doesn't believe losing the ballot was due to negligence, he noted.
At the time of publication, the IEC’s vote counting continues, and is subject to change.
For more on the elections results as they trickle in, click here.