Cape Town - The Freedom Front Plus’s Peter Marais has expressed his delight that his party has taken a huge portion of the vote from the DA.
“We are very, very happy because it is obvious that we have taken a big chunk of support away from the DA. The coloured parties have also taken a chunk, parties like GOOD and the Patriotic Alliance, away from the DA, which actually makes nonsense to the DA’s claim that they govern the best,” Marais said.
“What makes people unhappy with them? The only answer is that they govern very well in affluent areas,” he said in an interview with Independent Media at the Western Cape Results Centre on Wednesday.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) interim election results board showed that the FF Plus had secured at least 25 seats by lunchtime.
They showed that the party recorded 3.61% of the province’s vote, an increase from 0.7% five years ago.
In 2019, Marais said, the FF Plus had only six seats in the Western Cape.
Video: Mayibongwe Maqhina/IOL Politics
Among the seats in the bag are four in George, three each in Drakenstein and Oudsthoorn, two each in Swartland, Mossel Bay, Langeberg and Overstrand.
It also has one each in Matzikama, Cederberg, Saldanha Bay, Witzenberg, Theewaterskloof, Cape Agulhas, Swellendam and Hessequa.
In the City of Cape Town, the FF Plus garnered 1.72% of the votes, but no seats have been allocated yet.
Marais said the party’s seats came mainly from Mitchells Plain, Delft and other poor areas.
“So what does it tell you? I think the DA will have to up their game in the next five years.
“If you govern well, you have got to govern well as seen through the eyes of the poor, not govern well as seen through the eyes of the rich and the wealthy.”
Marais said he was confident that his party was on upward growth since its ”march” started in 2019.
“We now not only walk anymore, the FF Plus are on the run. We are running already, okay. We hope that we will pick up much more speed from now because we are heading for 2024.”
Marais was hopeful that when the capturing of the vote was completed in the afternoon, his party would get more seats.
“When the counting is done by 3pm, you will see. We hope to have 35. That is a big job.”
He said that what delighted him the most was that the Freedom Front Plus stood for the rights of the minorities and they had voted for the party.
“The minorities say: ‘We don’t want to be dominated by the majority.’” Marais said.
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