ELECTION-DP

CAPE TOWN July 26 Sapa

DP against staggered local elections

The Democratic Party on Wednesday criticised a recommendation
by provincial MECs to go ahead with staggered,
municipality-by-municipality local government elections.

Municipal boundary disputes in Johannesburg, Cape Town and
Durban threaten to delay the elections, set for November 1.

DP chief whip Douglas Gibson said in a statement in Cape Town
the provinces were far from ready for elections. Voter rolls were
unsatisfactory and voter education had been neglected. Few
understood how the new local government system would work.

"It is not surprising that the African National Congress is
happy to proceed on a staggered basis. They had their worst results
in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu/Natal."

Gibson said the National Party's support for the MECs'
recommendation contradicted statements by its chief representative
on the national multiparty liaison committee, Jacko Maree, who had
publicly backed the DP's call for the elections to be postponed.