PRETORIA - Almost all the smaller political parties seem to be doing badly in elections 2009. Political analyst and director at the School of Public Management and Development (SPM&D), Professor Sipho Buthelezi said the 77% voter turnout on Wednesday would benefit the big parties, the DA and the ANC and not the smaller parties.

Prof Buthelezi said he had predicted a huge voter turnout and this poses a threat to the smaller parties - some of whom are likely to disappear from the political scene altogether, for a while at least.

These parties include the ID, ACDP, SADECO and NADECO - the latter two being products of floor crossing. Buthelezi said the decision to cross the floor had not paid off given what is coming out of the numbers, he said.

Asked what he thought would result from the ANC's lead when all the votes have been counted, he said the ANC will retain a two-thirds majority thanks to the huge voter turnout.

As for COPE, he said contrary to the hype around the new party, it had not performed well, especially in the Eastern Cape where it was thought to have a stronghold.  However, COPE has established itself as a favourite party to vote for in 2014.

Party comment

Azapo's secretary general Strike Thokoane said they still expect a number of undeclared voting districts to boost their numbers.  The party said it had good votes from Gauteng, Limpopo and even some parts of the Eastern Cape.

DA's Helen Zille said they are comfortable with were they are currently sitting at the moment. The voters have spoken and they know the DA is a strong opposition party to the ANC.

IFP's national organizer, Albert Mcwango said there has been an interesting development of positive votes coming out of areas that include Limpopo and the North West.

He said the IFP worked hard in KwaZulu Natal because they have governed the province for 10 years and still hoping to retain power in the province.

The PAC's Mfanelo Skwatsha said an interesting trend in this election was the party getting a lot of votes from traditional white areas and from very small voting stations in the country. While the 38% is still a long way in telling where the party stands, he said it was encouraging to see this trend particularly because they focused mainly in the rural areas of the country.

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