Tshwane final results: No party wins majority vote, ANC and DA lose votes but remain on top

The municipal election vote counting has been concluded and the Tshwane metro remains a hung municipality as no party received majority votes – the metro will again be led by a coalition government.

More than half a million residents who registered to vote in Tshwane did not cast their votes on November 1 as the region had a low voter turnout of 45% of 1.5-million registered voters.

Political parties blamed the low voter turnout for them not being able to win majority votes in the region.

Breakdown of final 2021 election results:

– ANC: 34.63% council seats : 75

– DA: 32.03% council seats : 69

– EFF: 10.69% council seats : 23

– Action SA: 8.64% council seats : 19

– Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus): 7.84

% council seats : 17

The two biggest parties in the region each suffered significant losses of votes as smaller political parties grew in these elections including the newly-formed ActionSA taking fourth place.

Each of the majority parties needs about 15-16% to win a majority from the smaller parties.

Breakdown of the previous election results: 2016

– ANC: 41.25 %

– DA: 43.15 %

– EFF: 11.63 %

– VF PLUS: 1.99 %

The political parties have started talks of coalitions. The ANC, DA, EFF, ActionSA and FF Plus all said they were open to discussions of coalitions.

While none of the parties stipulated which of the majority political parties (ANC and DA) they would go into coalition with – the FF Plus said they would not give the ANC their votes.

In a televised declaration of the local government election results on Thursday, IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabulo said that although the elections faced challenges, they were free and fair.

“At times it was perceived as an election in doubt,” he said.

He said the elections served as an opportunity for residents to elect municipal leaders.

“We honour those who made themselves available.”

Nationally, 12.3 million voters went to the polls. This represents 46% of the 26 million registered to vote.

He said the new voter management devices assisted the commission in ensuring that the elections would be transparent and free of any double voting.

Mamabolo said the devices could detect those that wanted to double vote seeking to defraud the elections.

One case of this was a man from Mamelodi who was arrested after he was caught trying to double vote.

IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini said despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 outbreak, the commission managed to fulfil its constitutional duty.

“We are proud to proclaim to the world that we are still flying high the banner of electoral integrity, excellence and free and fair elections.

“Through these elections, we have sent a resounding message to the world at large that we South Africans remain a beacon of pre-eminence in the conduct of electoral democracy,” he said.

“It is then my singular honour to hereby declare the 2021 municipal elections concluded as free and fair.”

He said the commission had received and cleared 290 objections.

National results majority votes:

– ANC: 161 municipalities

– DA: 13 municipalities

– IFP: 10 municipalities

President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed the results. “We hope that what the commission has confirmed to be a free and fair election has also been affirmed by the election observers,” he said.

He urged councillors to serve communities in providing better services.

Ramaphosa also appealed for parties to work together as more municipalities headed for a coalition government, he urged parties to commit to improving the residents’ lives.