'ANC/NNP lead West Cape race'
2004-03-24 23:27
Cape Town - The African National Congress and the New National Party are neck-and-neck in the Western Cape premiership race, with the Democratic Alliance hot on their heels, says a Markinor survey.
The survey, which was published on Wednesday, indicates that NNP leader and Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk enjoys 32% of the support.
Ebrahim Rasool, Western Cape leader of the ANC, has 30% support, followed by the DA's candidate for premier, Theuns Botha, with 20%.
Other parties' candidates managed a joint support level of only 2%.
Voters do not directly elect the Western Cape premier, but he/she is elected by the newly elected provincial legislator.
However, Markinor focused on the support levels of particular individuals as the election campaign in the Western Cape took on the form of a mainly "premiership campaign".
The results of the survey on the premiership candidates differ greatly from a previous survey that focused on party support.
In that survey, the ANC and NNP together didn't get enough support to rule the Western Cape.
Mbeki favoured Rasool for premier
In the latest one, done in January and February, eligible voters were asked to fill in a voting form displaying the names of the parties' "premiership candidates".
The NNP named Van Schalkwyk and the DA named Botha, while the ANC said the issue would be left until after the elections.
President Thabo Mbeki, however indicated that he would like to see Rasool as premier.
The results of the Markinor survey come amid a hot party-political debate in the Western Cape on whether the ANC/NNP coalition would still rule after the elections, or whether the DA and its possible coalition partners would dethrone them.
The election result would not only settle this question, but would also indicate options of possible coalition partners if neither party obtained a absolute majority.
No single party has so far managed to obtain an absolute majority in the Western Cape in independent surveys.
Referring to the support of different race groups, Van Schalkwyk got 47% coloured, 18% white and 6% black support.
Rasool got 83% black, 27% coloured and 3% white support.
Botha got 54% white, 10% coloured and 7% black support.
The survey also showed that a large number of voters still hadn't decided whom they were going to vote for.
Six percent said they didn't know whom to support, while 7% didn't choose any of the candidates.
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