By Doreen Mokgolo
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) wants to win 3% of the national votes to finish in the top five.
By Thursday afternoon, with around 20% of the votes counted nationally, the party had 90,268 votes.
The 11-year-old party’s biggest support is in the Western Cape, where it had 55,291 votes by Thursday afternoon.
This is in a province led by the DA, which leads the count with 225,078 votes, followed by the ANC with 95,318 votes.
In an interview with Scrolla.Africa, the PA’s Charles Cilliers said they hope to remain in fifth place until all the votes are counted.
“A lot can still happen as many of the metros’ votes are still coming through. If we haven’t done well there, we might drop to sixth place,” he said.
Rise Mzansi Gauteng premier candidate Vuyiswa Ramokgopa said she is at peace with the results.
By Thursday afternoon, the 18-month-old party had 7,121 votes nationally and 3,640 in Gauteng, where it has the biggest support.
“As a new party, it is difficult to gauge where we will fall regarding the results. It is now in the hands of the country and those tasked with counting the votes to ensure we get what is due to us,” she said.
Ramokgopa said they are open to the idea of coalition talks.
“As an untested party, we could not go into pre-coalition agreements. We went into elections knowing that Gauteng will not be governed by any outright majority,” she said.
Pictured above: Charles Cilliers.
Image source: Doreen Mokgolo.
