Elections: ANC leading Tshwane but not winning outright majority, talks of coalition begin
The ANC said they wanted to regain power in the Capital City and have begun coalition talks with smaller political parties as they battle lead with DA.
While the ANC has been leading in Tshwane municipal election results, it has not attained the outright majority – this has forced the party to begin talks of a coalition to stay in power.
With 96 % of votes in Tshwane counted by Thursday morning, the ANC was in the lead with 34.55%, followed by the DA at 32.08% and the EFF at 10.71%
None of the parties attained the majority (50% plus one) of the votes, which would mean that a coalition government would likely continue in Tshwane.
After five years of being out of power in the Capital City, ANC election manager Fikile Mbalula said the party had “learnt its lesson” and was open for coalition talks to regain leading power in the region.
He said the ANC’s 2016 blunder at the polls, which saw DA winning through a coalition formation, left a “distasteful taste” for their supporters.
“It did not help that we were not in government because people in Tshwane still blamed the ANC for service delivery issues. That is is why we are considering a coalition so that we can lead our people,” he said.
Mbalula blamed low voter turnout for their struggles to win an outright majority in the region.
“Coalitions are normal in a democratic state; if you do not want coalitions you must work harder, which is what we tried to do and on that score we failed,” he said.
Although Mbalula did not say which parties they would partner with, he said “we will choose partners in Tshwane that we can work with”.
“We have to win back the confidence of the people.
“Coalition is important to respond to the issues that the people raised. There is no way around it. We have to convince people that we’ve heard them and we have to do things differently this time around.”
Meanwhile, after the failed marriage of the DA and the EFF in the last coalition, DA leader John Steenhuisen said during the election campaign they would enter into a coalition with other parties except for the EFF.
The DA’s breakaway political party, Action SA has also said they were open for coalitions in the region but did not indicate which parties they would work with.
While the results have not yet been completed, the DA and the ANC attained fewer votes than in 2016 and smaller parties grew.
Breakdown of the previous election results in 2016:
– ANC: 41.25 %
– DA: 43.15 %
– EFF: 11.63 %
– FF PLUS: 1.99 %
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