EFF concedes electoral decline as municipal vote counting nears finish line
On the national leaderboard, the party is currently in 4th place, with 9% of the vote.
Alpha Ramushwana
EFF supporters gather outside the East London Magistrate's Court ahead of party leader Julius Malema's pre-sentencing hearing. Picture: Sphamandla Dlamini/EWN
Sphamandla Dlamini/EWN
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said it has accepted that South Africans have not rallied behind it in Wednesday’s municipal elections.
With the IEC having counted 87% of the voting districts nationwide, the EFF’s electoral support has declined.
On the national leaderboard, the party is currently in 4th place, with 9% of the vote.
In municipalities, the party is also currently not performing as well as it did in the 2021 local government elections.
The EFF has accepted that, with the vote-counting process in its final stages, it is clear that the picture is unlikely to change.
The party is currently in 4th place in the City of Johannesburg, with just 6% of the vote.
In Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, the EFF is also on 6%, but is currently in 5th place behind the MK Party and the Freedom Front Plus, respectively.
The EFF’s treasurer-general, Omphile Maotse, said all the party can do at this point is accept the result.
“Ours is to accept the voices of our people. This is democracy, and the people must choose who they wish to lead the municipalities. If he did not choose the eff, we will accept it. If they had chosen the eff, we would also accept it.”
The party said that once the official results are announced, a meeting with national officials will be convened to reflect on the outcome.
During the meeting, the EFF will assess where it went wrong and what it could have done better to win over voters.
Maotse said it will be important for the party to close ranks and diagnose where things went wrong.
“We planned for the elections. When the results are now out, we have to call a closing meeting and do a diagnosis of what happened. Is it our resources? Could it be our structures?”
EFF leader Julius Malema will address the media on the party’s electoral performance on Saturday.