Odds narrow in the race for presidency

THE race for the ANC presidency is heating up as odds narrow between Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

At 8:10 Dlamini Zuma remains the frontrunner, with the odds at 13:10 for Ramaphosa. Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete and Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu trail in third place, both at 8:1, while ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize is fourth at 10:1.

Another race for yet another hot seat is also in the running. Daniel Craig bid the James Bond franchise farewell on completion of the 24th instalment of and rumours in Lalaland are rife about who would become the next charmed spy. At this time there are two clear frontrunners who have been priced quite apart from other leading men.

According to worldsportsbetting.co.za, Idris Alba is second in the running to become the next Bond at 33:10, while pole position belongs to Tom Hardy with all bets on at 22:10. Michael Fassbender is in third place at 4:1, followed by Aiden Turner at 9:2 and James Norton at 5:1.

At this stage it is unlikely that Ryan Gosling at 20:1 and Sam Riley at 25:1 even stand a chance. Hot-under-the-collar chef Gordon Ramsey has a better chance of chopping onions in a bikini as he leads from the back at 500:1.

Before last week’s French national elections there was an apparent dead-heat in the polls toward the end of the week heading into the poll as French presidential candidate Marine La Penn caught up to frontrunner, and eventual victor, Emmanuel Macron in the popularity stakes.

However, a week before French citizens went to the polls, bookmaker Worldsportsbetting. co.za already pronounced candidate Macron as the winner. The odds gave him a dead certainty priced at 1:8, while Le Penn trailed at a vastly different number for the presidency at 5:1.

Despite reports that noted that both candidates, who were only able to muster half the popular vote between them in the first round of the polls, still had lots of scope to endear themselves to the electorate in the run-up to the final poll.

But worldsportsbetting. co.za’s Ryno du Plessis said that that the odds were not influenced much during election week. “Over the timeline of the election, the market already took prior charm offensives, policy statements and independent opinion into account. Le Penn’s more radical right wing view was not expected to hold at the polls.”

The German election is also on the cards for this year and is often a litmus for the greater mood in Europe, says Du Plessis. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party is heading for victory with odds of 5:1, with current coalition partner the SDP trailing at 18:10.