ANC loses Buffalo City majority in interim election count

The African National Congress lost its majority in Buffalo City, an Eastern Cape metropolitan municipality, as interim election results showed its vote share falling to 41.94% from 59.43% in 2021. The Electoral Commission of South Africa’s dashboard showed all 380 voting districts counted by Friday evening, November 6, but the council’s final seat allocation was incomplete. The United Democratic Movement received 18.39% of the vote, up from 0.96% in 2021, while the Democratic Alliance received 83,805 votes. The ANC had 208,535 votes and the UDM 91,461. The dashboard had allocated 49 of the council’s 100 seats, all ward seats; party-list seats remained to be assigned. The ANC won 38 of the 49 ward seats counted. In ward 15, the DA and Economic Freedom Fighters were tied at 1,714 votes each. The result ends the ANC’s majority in a city where it won 61 of 100 seats in 2021. The party remains ahead across the Eastern Cape, with 46.03% of counted votes, according to the dashboard. Across South Africa, the ANC had 31.8% of the vote with 80% counted, compared with 46% in the 2021 municipal elections. Those national figures are interim snapshots, not final results. ANC Eastern Cape...