GRAAFF-REINET — The local government elections were hotly contested all over the country, and this area was no exception.
Just over 25 000 of the 40 887 registered voters went to the polls, a voter turnout of 61.31%.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC Fikile Xasa thanked the people for coming out in their numbers to vote peacefully in the 2016 Local Government Elections under the management of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), commenting that the young and old defied severe weather conditions locally and went to voting stations to cast their votes.
“We commend the IEC for conducting a successful election process in this voting district.
The peaceful outcome of the elections is a clear sign of a maturing democracy in which our people are able to exercise their right to vote as enshrined in the Constitution,” said MEC Xasa.
The MEC congratulated all newly elected councillors and wish them all the best in their endeavours towards creating a better life for all.
“As we criss-crossed the area, we have observed that the community is running out of patience on lack of service delivery. In this five year electoral term of Local Government, we expect councillors to hit the ground running in responding to basic service delivery needs of the community. We urge them to uphold the principles of good governance and sound financial management at all times.” MEC Xasa concluded.
The new Dr Beyers Naudé Municipality, which officially came into being last Friday, August 5, has 14 councillors from the African National Congress, and 13 from the Democratic Alliance.
The combined votes for the wards and the political parties saw the ANC win control of the council by a narrow majority, with 51.05% of the total ward and PR vote compared to 46.59% for the DA.
The EFF and SDO had a negligible share of the votes, with 1.74% and 0.03% respectively.
All fi gures are taken from the official IEC website.
The ANC won eight wards with the DA taking six. The PR councillors, calculated on the percentage of votes received by each party on the second ballot paper, were split 7 to 6 in favour of the DA.
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