Political analyst, Dr Imraan Buccus says a decline in support for the African National Congress (ANC) in the upcoming local government elections does not necessarily mean an increase in support for opposition parties.
He was reacting to a recent survey conducted by market research firm, Ipsos.
The findings project that support for the ruling party will decline to below 50% with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) possibly seeing gains.
Buccus says a number of factors are likely to influence how people vote including the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July.
“These polls are sometimes unreliable, especially when polls are done as early as this. If we are looking at between 1000 and 2000 people, where exactly have they been polled? How did we come to a figure of 50%? Although it does sound reasonable. The other point is – if people don’t vote for the ANC, it doesn’t necessarily mean the smaller parties will benefit,” explains Buccus.
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