Poll puts Marthinus ahead

2004-04-13 16:12

Cape Town - The latest Markinor opinion poll places New National Party leader and incumbent Western Cape premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk the favourite candidate for the premiership of the Western Cape, with 30.4% of the support.

According to the poll, conducted from April 2 to 4 and released on Tuesday, it is not clear which party is going to win the election in the province.

Therefore, leadership issues are of particular importance. Van Schalkwyk is followed by African National Congress provincial leader Ebrahim Rasool with 23.3% support for his candidacy, and the Democratic Alliance's Theuns Botha with 21.7% of the support.

Seventeen percent of residents of the province did not choose any of the three as their preferred candidate.

Van Schalkwyk leads among coloured voters - coloured voters represent more than half of all voters in the province - followed by Rasool and then Botha.

Rasool leads among black voters. The white voters prefer Botha, followed by Van Schalkwyk. Rasool is supported by a small minority of white voters.

In terms of support from their own parties, Van Schalkwyk stands the strongest with 85.5% of NNP provincial voters supporting him as premier candidate.

He also has the support of 23.5% of DA provincial voters and 11.7% of ANC provincial voters.

Rasool has the support of 69% of ANC voters, 3.6% of DA voters, and 3.4% of NNP voters, while Botha musters the support of 56.7% of DA voters, 6.8% of ANC voters, and 3.3% of NNP voters.

- SAPA