Analysts give their predictions ahead of tomorrow's elections
With less than 24 hours before South Africans take to the polls in the fifth local government elections, we've asked leading political analysts to weigh-in on how people in Kwazulu Natal may cast their votes.
Dr Lubna Nadvi, a political analyst at UKZN, says it's difficult to make any clear predictions. However, she believes that similar to previous municipal elections, the ANC will continue to secure sufficient votes in the province. "KZN is a historical stronghold for the ANC, so they will obviously do well. But they will definitely face challenges from the DA and EFF."
Dr Lubna also suggests that since the NFP won't be able to contest nationally, NFP-loyalists may cast their votes for the IFP, instead. "It's a fluid and dynamic process. I expect everything to go according to plan tomorrow," she adds.
Imraan Buccus, a research fellow in the School of Social Sciences at UKZN, believes that tomorrow's elections will arguably be the most contested in the province since the first local government elections in 1996. He believes that the in-fighting within the ANC - on both a local and national level - will impact significantly on voters. "The fragmentation and fractures within the ANC, and the tremendous increase in independent candidates, is going to impact negatively on their ability to retain the province."
Buccus says that the DA is likely to improve on the number of votes they received in the 2011 municipal elections. "The challenge for the DA will remain its ability to attract the vote of the emerging young middle class, something that's remained elusive to them in past elections."
As for the coveted votes from NFP supporters, Buccus predicts that a significant part of that electorate will benefit the IFP. "I don't believe that all the smaller parties jostling for those NFP voters will benefit significantly tomorrow.
(Photo: Jacaranda FM News)