ANC takes AbaQulusi, DA hangs on to Vryheid central

IT’S OVER, at last, you might say. After dominating the news channels and newspapers for months, the electorate finally went to the polls last Wednesday.

Millions of voters across the country (and thousands of voters across the sea) got to put their crosses on the ballot papers for provincial and national governments, and walked away with a blackened thumb cuticle. The politicians could then only sit back and wait to see if all their electioneering was going to be fruitful, if people were going to believe the promises.

And the results?

Well, everyone now knows that the ANC won the national election, and won all but the Western Cape (retained by the DA) in the provincial elections.

But what happened closer to home, what happened in AbaQulusi/Vryheid? What can local politicians read into the results that they can apply to the local government elections in two years time?

The majority of voters in AbaQulusi voted for the ANC in both the national and provincial elections (48.59% and 45.42% respectively). Second in both elections was the IFP (21.38% and 22.59% respectively), and then third, the NFP (19.22% and 22.39% respectively).

So, if the percentages were applied to a local government election, the ANC would still not have an overall majority and would presumably seek a coalition with, perhaps, the NFP again.

The only other party to put in a significant showing in the AbaQulusi area was the DA with 6.90% of the national vote and 6.49% of the provincial vote. The party did retain its supremacy in the two Vryheid central Wards.

There were 29 parties contesting the national election, and 18 parties on the provincial ballot, and in AbaQulusi just one other party got more than 1% of the vote. This was the EFF which got 944 votes (1.50%) of the national vote, and 840 votes (1.35%) of the provincial vote.

The rest, as far as Vryheid/AbaQulusi was concerned mattered not in the least.

Of all these “also rans”, the VryheidsFront Plus did the best with 513 votes (0.81%) in the national election, and 411 votes (0.66%) in the provincial election.

The very worst performer in the AbaQulusi region was the Peoples Alliance which got just five votes in the national election, and the Truly Alliance who garnered just 11 votes in the provincial election. Such is democracy, but one has to wonder if there are truly 11 voters in the AbaQulusi area who support that obscure party, or were those votes mistakes by semi-literates.

It appears from the polling stations visited on the day that the election in AbaQulusi proceeded smoothly. No problems were reported by any of the Presiding Officers, and generally there was an air of smooth efficiency.

The polling station at the municipal swimming pool in High Street late in the afternoon on that Wednesday had its fair share of noisy supporters, and some of the consumption of alcohol in the street perhaps should have been curtailed by the SAPS. What they were celebrating is not known – the DA won that Ward.

And so, next stop on the Election Trail is 2016, and the local government elections. Until then, no doubt, the politicians will leave the electorate in peace again.