2021 Elections | First results are IN: Who are the early winners and losers?

Was it worth staying up for? It depends on which party you support. The IEC has released its first batch of results for the 2021 Elections, giving us some early insight into how this vote is going to play out.

Latest results from the 2021 Local Elections – first batch

Of course, these are VERY early days here – and the reported low voter turnout on Monday means that the first reported results won’t perfectly reflect the mood of the nation. But it does give us some early indicators.

Several technical issues have been reported at voting booths across South Africa. Some venues ran out of ballot papers, whereas others were delayed from opening by protests. However, a majority of locations were able to operate smoothly – and despite the projected voter turnout, plenty of long queues have been witnessed in some spots.

LOOK: Election Map shows where the votes are going

The first set of results took data from 17 voting districts. That’s less than 1% of all districts in South Africa, but we do have some early patterns emerging…

Photo: IEC Dashboard

2021 Elections: Early results trickle in

The ANC has opened up a very early lead, but still remains below 50% of all votes cast. The FF Plus, EFF, and UDM have also mopped up a few of those fascinating first few votes. In Free State, the ANC hold an early lead over the FF Plus – with the latter showing they can be a potential thorn in the side for the DA at this election.

The DA made early inroads in both the Northern and Western Capes, and the Eastern Cape is already heavily leaning towards an ANC landslide. As of 00:15 on Tuesday 2 November, the EFF had 3.54% of the vote nationwide.

Is ActionSA having an impact in Johannburg?

Details have also started to drip through from Johannesburg, and the contest in the metro promises to be a wide-open one. Early indications show that ANC support is set to dip, and Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA are hoovering up the votes. Both the DA and EFF lost backing at the Pennyville Creche voting station, amid a very low voter turnout:

I have received a first result from Joburg!

Pennyville Creche

2021
Turnout ~18% (!!)
ANC 45% (-22) (!!!)
EFF 19% (-1)
ActionSA 19% (+19)
DA 3% (-4)

2019:
ANC 63%
EFF 27%
DA 7%

2016
ANC 67%
EFF 20%
DA 7%

First sign that @ActionSA is potentially taking A LOT from the ANC.

— Dawie Scholtz (@DawieScholtz) November 1, 2021