Nail-biter: DA holding slimmest of leads in Nelson Mandela Bay

Data from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) showed the Democratic Alliance (DA) party leading by a hairbreadth in Nelson Mandela Bay on Friday, 31 May.

By 10:20am, 88,930 votes had been counted and validated, with the DA receiving 33,725, making up 38.17% of the vote in the Eastern Cape metro.

The ANC trailed the main opposition party with 32,417 (36.69%).

According to the latest provincial results for the Eastern Cape as a whole, the ANC was leading with 65.12%, followed by the DA with 12.57% and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) rounding up the top three with 9.93%

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DA confident of ‘good result’ in Bay

DA provincial leader Andrew Whitfield told HeraldLIVE at the IEC results centre in East London, that he was looking forward to “an interesting result in Nelson Mandela Bay”.

He said that even though not enough voting stations in the Bay have yet been captured on the IEC system to get a better picture of the election results, the party felt “confident”.

“We are confident of a good result because we saw some long queues in DA areas.

“We know it was because voting was slow, but a lot of people did not leave. They held the line and we are very proud of South Africans who did that,” Whitfield added.

Kouga majority

In Kouga, the DA took the majority, with 52.33% of votes cast.

“We’re particularly excited about our result in the Kouga municipality,” Whitfield said.

“We believe it is a resounding endorsement of the work the mayor [Hattingh Bornman]and his team are doing in the DA-led municipality.”

IEC Eastern Cape spokesperson Sanda Nodada said voter turnout and the number of votes cast would be published only once capturing had been completed.

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