Politics
The municipal council consists of seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Four councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in four wards, while the remaining three 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 no party obtained a majority; the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the African National Congress won three seats each, and the Congress of the People (COPE) won the remaining seat. The DA and COPE formed a coalition to govern the municipality.
The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.
| Party | Votes | Vote % | Seats | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ward | List | Total | ||||
| Democratic Alliance | 2,500 | 40.5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| African National Congress | 2,335 | 37.8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Congress of the People | 556 | 9.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| National People's Party | 429 | 6.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| African Christian Democratic Party | 285 | 4.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| South African Progressive Civic Organisation | 71 | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 6,176 | 100.0 | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
| Spoilt votes | 84 | |||||
The local council sends one representative, a member of the Democratic Alliance, to the council of the Central Karoo District Municipality.
Read more about this topic: Laingsburg Local Municipality
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“It is not so much that women have a different point of view in politics as that they give a different emphasis. And this is vastly important, for politics is so largely a matter of emphasis.”
—Crystal Eastman (1881–1928)
“The will to change begins in the body not in the mind
My politics is in my body, accruing and expanding with every act of resistance and each of my failures.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)