FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the African National Congress hold the party flag during ANC president Jacob Zuma's election campaign in Atteridgeville a township located to the west of Pretoria, South Africa July 5, 2016. PICTURE: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
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0 EASTERN CAPE: The ANC retained its seat in Ward 23 in Mhlontlo, Eastern Cape after fending off a spirited challenge by the United Democratic Movement.
The ANC beat the UDM by 330 votes in the by-election. The UDM won the most vote-rich voting district in the ward, the area around Cokomfeni village. In 2021, the ANC won 84% support in the district with the UDM getting 3%. In the by-election, the UDM took 80% of the vote in the district, while the ANC fell to 18%.
Percentage turnout in the by-election was highest in the Kanyalanga Junior Secondary School district, at 58%. The ANC won 96% of the vote in this district, beating the UDM by 300 votes and giving it sufficient buffer to retain the ward with a reduced but satisfactory margin. The UDM was a factor in six of the seven voting districts and ran the ANC close in three.
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This was the final Eastern Cape by-election of the year. It was also the one in which the UDM had its best 2023 showing. It will hope this is a harbinger of things to come for the party in the province in 2024. This result for the ANC is an outlier. The party has been emphatic in Eastern Cape by-elections in 2023, and the party will hope that this was a diversion from its dominant course in the province.
The next by-election will be on 22 November when the ANC will defend a safe seat in Msunduzi, in the Imbali township next to Pietermaritzburg
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