Politics
The municipal council consists of thirteen members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Seven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seven wards, while the remaining six are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 18 May 2011 the Democratic Alliance (DA) obtained a majority of seven seats on the council.
The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.
| Party | Votes | Vote % | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ward | List | Total | ||||
| Democratic Alliance | 15,876 | 53.0 | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| African National Congress | 10,437 | 34.9 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Congress of the People | 3,377 | 11.3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| The People's Independent Civic Organisation | 179 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| South African Progressive Civic Organisation | 74 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 29,943 | 100.00 | 7 | 6 | 13 | |
| Spoilt votes | 272 | |||||
The local council sends two representatives to the council of the West Coast District Municipality: one from the Democratic Alliance and one from the African National Congress.
Read more about this topic: Bergrivier Local Municipality
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“While you’re playing cards with a regular guy or having a bite to eat with him, he seems a peaceable, good-humoured and not entirely dense person. But just begin a conversation with him about something inedible, politics or science, for instance, and he ends up in a deadend or starts in on such an obtuse and base philosophy that you can only wave your hand and leave.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)