Local elections: IFP leads in 18 KwaZulu-Natal municipalities
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on IOL
The IFP leads the MK Party in 18 KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, despite MK's lead in the provincial vote with 34.54% after 96% of results processed. Thirty-one of 44 councils remain without a majority, while MK is contesting some eThekwini results with the electoral commission, according to IOL.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leads in 18 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, despite trailing the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party in the provincial vote. At 7am on Saturday, 96% of the province's results had been processed: MK had 34.54% of valid votes, against 20.86% for the IFP and 20.65% for the African National Congress (ANC), according to data from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported by IOL.
MK had won 2,062,637 votes and 524 council seats, against 1,245,446 votes and 447 seats for the IFP. The ANC had 1,232,958 votes and 330 seats. The IFP directly controlled five councils, against three for MK and one each for the ANC and Democratic Alliance (DA), while 31 of KwaZulu-Natal's 44 municipalities had no winner with a majority and three results remained to be calculated, according to IOL.
MK has meanwhile lodged a challenge with the IEC over the results in the eThekwini municipality. The party cites system failures, discrepancies between electronically entered results and paper result sheets, as well as alleged irregularities in the counting, verification and reconciliation of ballots, according to IOL.
The party is calling in particular for the processing of disputed ballots to be frozen, a review by independent forensic analysts and an investigation into the municipal results. The challenge follows the appeal contesting the vote count in KwaZulu-Natal, published on 6 November.
