DA could be a king-maker in KZN

IFP leader Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi getting his finger marked before voting at ward9 at Enkonjeni oLundi. Picture:Sibonelo Ngcobo

IFP leader Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi getting his finger marked before voting at ward9 at Enkonjeni oLundi. Picture:Sibonelo Ngcobo

Published Aug 4, 2016

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Durban - KwaZulu-Natal may be destined for coalition-governed municipalities if Thursday morning’s interim results released by the Independent Electoral Commission are anything to go by.

With the NFP not participating in municipal elections in all the councils except Nquthu Municipality, the DA could be a king-maker and there is a great possibility that it may get into bed with the IFP.

As at 10am on Thursday morning the election results showed that the municipalities where there was potential for coalitions were: Jozini, Hluhluwe, Mtubatuba, Mfolozi, Nquthu, Umvoti, Estcourt, eDumbe and Abaqulusi.

In all these, the DA and IFP could enter into an alliance to edge out the ANC which has percentage of the vote, at time of publication, almost equalling the IFP.

However, the interim municipal elections results in KZN still showed the ANC to be leading the pack, having already bagged just more than half the declared votes.

The ruling party had improved its vote from 55.10% to 56.16% of the votes, followed by the IFP with 28.67% and the DA with 9.55%. It appears the NFP vote has been divided among the dominant parties in the province.

While the ANC was emerging as the overall winner in the initial results, it also appeared to be holding its grip on its traditional support base on the KZN south coast and Natal midlands.

This happened as it made some inroads on many parts of the northern parts of the province like in Phongolo, eDumbe, Umlalazi and Underberg, among others.

The IFP also appears to have regained its space.

The IFP has managed to cling to Ulundi, Nkandla and Msinga.

The results show the party taking over the Nongoma Municipality, which was previously controlled by the NFP, while the ANC was ahead in votes in eDumbe, also previously controlled by the NFP.

However, Nquthu, the only municipality contested by the NFP, is likely to again be a hung municipality as, in the initial results, no party has won outright.

Bantu Holomisa’s party, the UDM, seems to still have some presence in Richmond as the interim results show it won 3.33% while IFP 3.15%.

Elections Bureau

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