By Emily Setona
QWAQWA – The governing ANC looks poised to retain the Free State after preliminary elections results indicated it had taken an early lead in the province by Thursday May 30 2024.
The ANC was leading with 53.2 percent followed by the DA with 21.1 percent. In the third place was the EFF with 12.9 percent after 49.7 percent of the votes had been counted.
At the time of going to print ANC had garnered 43.4 percent of the national vote, followed by DA at 24.70 percent and the EFF at 8.86 percent.
But last evening, results showed the Free State voters to be having confidence in the ruling party followed by the DA and the EFF in a distant third.
Reacting on its performance, ANC head of election campaigns Teboho Mokoena acknowledging that ANC is leading, and it looks like Free Staters want to give them another mandate to lead but he was quick to express caution by saying it is too early to celebrate.
“We will confirm earliest on Friday; what is obvious is that people have confidence in us. It will be more clear.”
Mokoena also confirmed that the ANC had heard what the people want during its campaigns.
Voters speaking through their votes.
“We have heard our people‘s challenges and complaints, we will use the re-election to correct all issues that have been raised.”
In an interview with The Guard DA premier candidate Roy Jankielsohn said: “We are still waiting for the outcomes and for the verifications of the results because it is still too early to make a statement. But according to our party agents who have been working on the ground we are going to grow. The DA still has room to grow in the Free State.”
On the other hand, in interviews with different television channels the third placed EFF expressed belief that the Free State is predominately filled with rural and farming communities, and they felt like their campaigning efforts did not make significant inroads in the area.
As political party representatives waited with bated breath, 22.1% of the national votes had been counted.
