Nelson Mandela Bay on a knife edge

Eighty-seven percent of votes have been counted in the hotly-contested Nelson Mandela Bay with the DA currently leading the pack.

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Port Elizabeth - The IEC says 87 percent of votes have been counted in the hotly-contested Nelson Mandela Bay and that results were now trickling in from less than 33 voting districts across the metro.

IEC regional supervisor Crosby Bacela said the districts were spread across the metro’s cities of Port Elizabeth, Despatch, and Uitenhage.

He said they were now waiting on the auditors to confirm the latest results, which would be updated as the verified votes on the live IEC website.

The DA was currently leading the pack with 50.6 percent, followed by the ANC at 38.5 percent, and EFF at 4.68 percent.

Leaders from the contesting political organisations are at the East Cape Training Centre in Port Elizabeth, where the IEC’s regional results centre is based.

They could be seen crunching the numbers, and claiming the wards where the remaining voting districts are located as their “strongholds”.

These wards include 30 (which includes the Veeplaas township near KwaMagxaki), 38 (Jacksonville in the Northern Areas), 52 (Despatch) and 60 (which includes Motherwell and Wells Esate)

The Northern Areas is a coloured area in Port Elizabeth that is largely viewed as a DA stronghold. The official opposition party also has strong presence in the conservative Despatch town.

Polls suggested the DA and ANC were running neck-and-neck in the Eastern Cape's largest metro, where ANC support has been declining.

The ruling party held on to the metro by 51.9 percent of votes in the 2011 municipal elections; and the number went below 50 percent in the 2014 national elections.

luyolo.mkentane@inl.co.za

@luyolomkentane

Elections Bureau