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anc is Coping

Voting in Mannenberg trickle in a slow start in Cape Town here two voters doing their mark. PICTURE BY AMBROSE PETERS
Voting in Mannenberg trickle in a slow start in Cape Town here two voters doing their mark. PICTURE BY AMBROSE PETERS

Anna Majavu

Anna Majavu

The Congress of the People (Cope) has achieved mixed results in this week's by-election - doing only well in areas where the ANC did not contest.

The fledgling Cope only performed well in the Western Cape where it contested in 27 wards, winning 10.

Cope lost hands down to the ANC in both Matjhabeng in the Free State and Barkley West in the Northern Cape. In Matjhabeng the ANC got 91,76percent of the votes with Cope only managing 6,64percent.

In Barkley West the ANC got 79,72percent of the vote while Cope got 20,28percent

Cope's areas of victory were in six of Cape Town's township wards, and four rural areas where the ANC did not field any candidates after failing to meet the registration deadline. Cope contested against the DA, the Independent Democrats (ID), and other smaller parties.

It lost the other 17 wards it contested in the province to either the DA or the ID.

However, political analysts said Cope had done "reasonably well" and was likely to do even better in the national elections next year.

"Cope put up a reasonable performance given that they had barely a month to put together their election machinery," said Unisa's Shadrack Gutto.

Independent political analyst Dale McKinley said "Cope won in the Western Cape because the ANC is weak here, and riddled with divisions and strife.

"Cope will benefit next year from the defections and divisions in the Eastern Cape ANC. Cope could also pick up votes in Gauteng in the urban areas where there are more middle class voters," he said.

Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg sa id Cope, the DA and the ID had made inroads into the ANC and the ruling party should be concerned.

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