ANC voters want MPs to follow conscience
MORE than half of ANC voters say they believe ANC MPs should follow their conscience rather than obey orders from the party in the upcoming vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.
This is revealed in South Africa’s first social media technology-driven political sentiment survey.
The results of the ground-breaking survey conducted by domestic research house Ratepop show that 59.2% of ANC voters polled said MPs should vote as they saw fit, rather than follow party instructions.
This was particularly significant given the no-confidence vote scheduled in parliament on Tuesday, Ratepop said.
Asked whether Zuma’s staying on as president until 2019 would make ANC voters more or less likely to vote for the ANC in the upcoming national elections‚ 46.1% said less likely‚ while 24.5% said more likely.
Asked who ANC voters would like as the next president, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was clear favourite with 49.5% of ANC support‚ with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma a distant second at 17.9%.
Surprisingly‚ the third most popular leader among ANC supporters is EFF’s Julius Malema with 5.2%‚ followed by Lindiwe Sisulu at 3.5%.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane has 3.2% of ANC voter support. Baleka Mbete and others barely register.
Ratepop chief executive Socratis Avgitidis said: “We are the first company to use a Facebook messenger bot to conduct extensive political polling research.
“More than 6 000 voters across the spectrum of South African political affiliation agreed to participate‚ and the results have been astonishing.”