DA retains Bay's Ward 1

[caption id="attachment_236871" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Tracy Weise[/caption]

The DA has retained Ward 1 following the highly contested by-election in Nelson Mandela Bay on Wednesday.

With a total of 47 67 votes cast, the party received 4 368 votes.

is now the new councillor in Ward 1.

DA South West constituency leader Bobby Stevenson said he had no doubt the party would win by a substantial number of votes.

"Voters in Ward 1 used this opportunity to send a strong message that they want the DA-led coalition government to keep on making progress in NMBM.

"This result is a resounding vote of confidence in our Executive Mayor, Athol Trollip, and the DA-led coalition government," Stevenson said.

Stevenson added the ANC and EFF should take note that the results was an indication that the voters soundly rejected the EFF’s plan to topple Mayor Trollip through a vote of no confidence on April 6.

With the added councillor, this brings the DA-led coalition seats in council back to 59, after they lost one seat following the in December.