PRETORIA: Possibilities of a coalition municipal council in Tshwane started to emerge as the IEC's national results trickled in yesterday.
The Independent Electoral Commission national elections centre is at the Tshwane Events Centre.
The DA and ANC were neck and neck by 8pm, with just more than 60 percent of the voting districts in Tshwane already counted. Both giants were standing at 42 percent, with the EFF lying third. The possibility of a coalition government was looming large over the capital as counting headed into the final stretch.
Although political parties were non-committal on the talk about entering into a coalition, the Freedom Front Plus expressed its willingness to work with any party to unseat the ANC.
FF Plus mayoral candidate advocate Anton Alberts said results were still outstanding, but it appeared that it was heading towards a cliffhanger.
“We will probably be a roleplayer in the coalition if it is going to happen here.”
Alberts said the party outperformed itself in this year’s elections compared to the previous one in 2011.
DA mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga said yesterday his party was not in negotiations with any political party.
He said the DA would wait until the final results had been officially declared.
ANC regional spokesperson Teboho Joala declined to comment and referred the matter to Nkenke Kekana, its provincial spokesperson, who could also not comment at the time of going to press.
EFF Tshwane elections co-ordinator Omphile Maotwe expressed dissatisfaction with the IEC counting process, saying it was not transparent and parties were not always able to understand how they had performed.
Maotwe said she had to leave the results centre after she made numerous unsuccessful efforts to ask for assistance.
IEC deputy chief executive officer Sy Mamabolo said: “The issue that the parties have not been given assistance is receiving our attention. It shouldn’t be like that, but there are obviously limitations in terms of the physical configuration of the room.
“We will find a workable solution with an arrangement with political parties. The principle though is that we want every party to be assured that the process is open and transparent. We have nothing to hide.”
Townships have traditionally been the ANC’s strongholds, despite being rocked by waves of violence.
The DA first led the ANC by 2 percent. As votes trickled in, the ruling party managed to take the lead by a fraction. By late afternoon the ANC was leading the metro with 42.87 percent, securing 12 seats in council.
Coming in a close second was the DA with 42.72 percent, with the EFF third with 10.50 percent. The Freedom Front Plus didn’t seem to be having any luck with only 1.96 percent.
In the afternoon, the results showed the ANC had performed well in Tshwane townships that were plagued by violence in the run-up to the elections.
The party walked away with victories in the majority of township wards, despite spirited electioneering campaigns by the DA and EFF.
The rest of the wards should be finalised today, according to the IEC.