ANC leads TownPress poll, but six parties top provincial results
PRETORIA — The ANC finished first in the TownPress reader poll with 18,004 votes, or 39% of the 46,463 votes cast. It led in four provinces, including Gauteng, which accounted for more than a quarter of all responses. Five other parties led elsewhere, with the EFF topping two provinces and the MK Party, Freedom Front Plus and Patriotic Alliance each leading in one.
The poll asked readers, “Which party are you voting for in the next election?” The EFF finished second overall with 15%, followed by the DA on 12%. The ANC drew more votes than those two parties combined, although most responses went to parties other than the ANC. The MK Party placed fourth on 8%, ahead of Freedom Front Plus on 7% and the Patriotic Alliance on 5%.
Where the overall ranking changed
The ANC led among respondents in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. Gauteng contributed 12,447 votes across all parties, compared with 1,273 from the Free State. That difference matters when reading the overall result: Gauteng readers cast nearly ten times as many votes as Free State readers.
The EFF led in Limpopo and the Free State, while the MK Party topped the KwaZulu-Natal responses. Two parties outside the overall top four also finished first in a province. Freedom Front Plus led in North West and the Patriotic Alliance in the Western Cape. The DA placed third across the poll without leading in any province. A further 522 responses came from outside South Africa, where Freedom Front Plus led.
What the reader vote measures
The figures reflect the choices of people who chose to participate in a TownPress poll. The question asked for a party preference without distinguishing between a ward candidate and a party ballot. The provincial rankings therefore describe TownPress respondents and cannot establish who will win a ward, secure council seats or govern a municipality.
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