The Electoral Commission (IEC) of South Africa released the final results of the 2011 Local Government Elections on Saturday. With 57.6% voter turn-out, the biggest ever since 1994, the African National Congress won the highest number of seats and councils, 198 councils and 5 633 seats constituting 62% of the vote.
The Democratic Alliance came second with 18 councils, 1 555 seats and 23.9% support. The ANC and DA were followed by the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Congress of the People.
IEC chairperson, Dr Brigalia Bam praised the election as the most exciting and incident free. “As we celebrate the completion of the fourth local government elections in a free South Africa, I pay tribute to South Africans, especially the voters for actively embracing democracy and I salute my colleagues, the IEC team, which has substantially contributed to the evolution and dynamic growth of our electoral democracy,” she said.
“For the past 17 years, our democracy has been enhanced by the holding of free and fair elections. The recent local government elections are yet another milestone in the evolution of our democracy.
“The contestation, dialogue and campaigning was vibrant everywhere. The media has never been as active in elections as it has been in these ones.
“There was no medium left untouched, from Twitter, Facebook, Posters, SMS’s and even town hall meetings. We despatched more than 200,000 electoral officials who scoured the valleys, mountains, suburbs and townships to help hundreds of people including 109 year old Maria Nomshado Gama and 106 year old Frida Matobi Twala,” added Bam.
“Ms Gama said her wish was to have a house before she dies. When this was broadcast on radio, a good Samaritan offered to build her the house. Trust South Africans to embrace each other. We salute all the centenarians who like Ms Twala and Gama, voted this week,” she said.
IEC Chief Electoral Officer, Pansy Tlakula, thanked South Africans for embracing democracy.” We have always maintained that voter apathy is not a feature in our dynamic democracy. Not only is the voter turnout for these elections higher than we had for the last municipal elections in 2006, but they are also the highest that we have had in the history of democratic municipal elections in this country.
“We have broken an international trend where elections and local government elections in particular progressively produce a lower voter turnout. Our target was to reach a 40% voter turnout. I am pleased to announce that the voter turnout for the 2011 municipal elections was 57.6%. I wish to applaud all South Africans who came out in their numbers to cast their votes on May 18 2011. Irrespective of who won the elections, our democracy has grown and matured further,” said Adv Tlakula.
The results for the 2011 local government elections are:
Party Councils Seats Won %Support
ANC 198 5 633 62.0%
DA 18 1 555 23.9%
IFP 5 352 3.6%
COPE 0 236 2.1%
NFP 2 224 2.4%
Other Parties 2 140 2.0%
UDM 0 65 0.6%
Independents 0 45 1.1%
PAC 0 40 0.4%
ACDP 0 40 0.6%
VF PLUS 0 38 0.5%
APC 0 28 0.3%
UCDP 0 25 0.2%
AZAPO 0 15 0.2%
TOTAL 8 436
ISSUED BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION
Centurion
21 May 2011
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