MK Party leads KZN with 32% in its first local election. Durban still counting

The MK Party is leading the early local election count in KwaZulu-Natal, in its first ever municipal election. By 10:00 on Thursday, 5 November, the MK Party had 32.41% of the vote, ahead of the ANC on 24.58% and the IFP on 22.21%, IOL reported.

By 09:00, with about 12% of KZN votes counted, the party had already won 11 ward seats, EWN reported.

What does the KZN count look like?

Source: IOL.

Most of these early results come from smaller rural municipalities, EWN noted. No party is near a clear majority on these numbers, and IOL reports coalition talks are expected once final seat counts are known (IOL).

What about eThekwini?

Durban's count had barely started on Thursday morning. EWN said no eThekwini results had been posted by 09:00 (EWN). Later, The Outlier's tracker showed only two of the metro's 839 voting districts counted (The Outlier), far too few to read anything into.

Before the vote, an eNCA MarkData survey put the MK Party on 48.0% in eThekwini, the DA on 25.2% and the ANC on 14.5% (eNCA). That was an opinion poll, not a result. Police identified 124 high-risk voting stations in eThekwini and 165 across KZN, TimesLIVE reported.

When will KZN councils know who governs?

The national declaration of results is expected on Sunday, and councils without a majority then have two weeks to form coalitions, Reuters reported.

How can you check your ward?

Go to the IEC's official results dashboard, choose KwaZulu-Natal, then your municipality and ward. Ward winners are declared as each count is completed.