City to get coalition government.

02 Mar, 2006

Cape Town is set to have a coalition government after neither of the two main parties competing in municipal elections on 1 March managed to win an outright majority. With 95 percent of the vote counted, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) had polled 37.1 percent while the main opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) had taken 42.3 percent. Both parties are now looking to form an alliance with the recently formed Independent Democrats (ID), which won around 11 per cent. The remainder of the vote went to smaller parties, which could also play an important part in forming a coalition. ANC has never won a clear majority in Cape Town although it has held power in the city since 2002. The results in the Mother City are in stark contrast to the situation country-wide, where ANC polled around 70 per cent of the overall vote, gaining control of at least 178 of South Africas 283 municipalities.