Nelson Mandela Bay elections

The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality council consists of one hundred and twenty members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Sixty councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in sixty wards, while the remaining sixty are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.

The council was dominated by the African National Congress (ANC) since its inception in 2000 until 2016. In the most recent election on 3 August 2016, the ANC lost its majority and the Democratic Alliance (DA) became the biggest party with 57 seats. This was however 4 seats short of a majority. On 17 August 2016, the DA announced a coalition government with the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the Congress of the People (COPE), and the United Democratic Movement (UDM). The UDM later withdrew, and were replaced by the Patriotic Alliance (PA).

In August 2018, DA councillor Victor Manyati abstained from supporting his party's speaker, Jonathan Lawack. Lawack was removed from his position by 60 votes to 59. The DA and its supporters then left the council, and in their absence, the UDM's candidate Mongameli Bobani was elected mayor, with 61 votes in favour and zero against. Bobani appointed a mayoral committee consisting almost entirely of ANC members. Bobani was ousted as mayor on 4 December 2019 and Thsonono Buyeye of the AIC was his interim successor. Buyeye served in the position until the election of the DA's Nqaba Bhanga in December 2020.

Results

The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections.

Event	ACDP	ANC	COPE	DA	EFF	FF+	PAC	UDM	Other	Total
2000 election	1	72	-	32	-	0	1	2	1	108
2006 election	1	81	-	30	-	1	1	1	6	120
2011 election	1	63	6	48	-	0	1	1	0	120
2016 election	1	50	1	57	6	0	0	2	3	120
2021 election	2	48	0	48	8	2	1	1	12	120

December 2000 election

Main article: 2000 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	186,965	65.52	34	188,737	65.93	38	72
	Democratic Alliance	80,930	28.36	20	81,980	28.64	11	31
	United Democratic Movement	5,507	1.93	0	6,864	2.40	2	2
	African Christian Democratic Party	2,853	1.00	0	3,485	1.22	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	2,964	1.04	0	3,304	1.15	1	1
	Independent candidates	3,772	1.32	0				0
	African Transformation Efficiency and Affirmative Movement	1,512	0.53	0	1,151	0.40	1	1
	Inkatha Freedom Party	852	0.30	0	738	0.26	0	0
Total		285,355	100.00	54	286,259	100.00	54	108
Valid votes		285,355	98.68		286,259	98.85
Invalid/blank votes		3,815	1.32		3,337	1.15
Total votes		289,170	100.00		289,596	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		469,424	61.60		469,424	61.69

October 2002 floor crossing

See also: Floor crossing (South Africa)

In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and the judgment of the Constitutional Court in United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, in the period from 8–22 October 2002 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats.

In the Nelson Mandela Bay council, six councillors crossed from the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA. One councillor crossed from the United Democratic Movement to the DA.

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	72	0	72
	Democratic Alliance	31	5	26
	New National Party	–	6	6
	United Democratic Movement	2	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	1	0	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	1	0	1
	African Transformation Efficiency and Affirmative Movement	1	0	1

By-elections from October 2002 to August 2004

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in October 2002 and September 2004.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
20 August 2003	43		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress
26 November 2003	52		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance

September 2004 floor crossing

Another floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2004. The six councillors of the NNP crossed to the African National Congress (ANC), as did four councillors from the DA. The single councillor of the African Transformation Efficiency and Affirmative Movement crossed to the Liberal Party.

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	73	10	83
	Democratic Alliance	25	4	21
	United Democratic Movement	1	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	1	0	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	1	0	1
	Liberal Party	—	1	1
	New National Party	6	6	0
	African Transformation Efficiency and Affirmative Movement	1	1	0

By-elections from September 2004 to February 2006

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in September 2004 and the election in March 2006.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
26 January 2005	44		African National Congress		African National Congress
12 October 2005	41		African National Congress		African National Congress

March 2006 election

Main article: 2006 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Ward	List	Total
	African National Congress	373,961	66.53	43	38	81
	Democratic Alliance	137,099	24.39	17	13	30
	Independent Democrats	14,085	2.51	0	3	3
	Freedom Front Plus	6,328	1.13	0	1	1
	United Democratic Movement	4,970	0.88	0	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	4,262	0.76	0	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	4,098	0.73	0	1	1
	Congress Movement of the Coloured People in South Africa	3,785	0.67	0	1	1
	United Independent Front	2,600	0.46	0	1	1
	Azanian People's Organisation	1,980	0.35	0	0	0
	Alliance for Community Transformation	1,169	0.21	0	0	0
	Liberal Party	744	0.13	0	0	0
	Inkatha Freedom Party	465	0.08	0	0	0
	Independents	6,583	1.17	0	–	0
Total		562,129	100.00	60	60	120

May 2011 election

Main article: 2011 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Ward	List	Total
	African National Congress	377,138	52.11	34	29	63
	Democratic Alliance	291,571	40.29	26	22	48
	Congress of the People	35,928	4.96	0	6	6
	United Democratic Movement	3,963	0.55	0	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	3,959	0.55	0	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	2,761	0.38	0	1	1
	Azanian People's Organisation	1,837	0.25	0	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	1,656	0.23	0	0	0
	African People's Convention	1,625	0.22	0	0	0
	Christian Democratic Party	1,262	0.17	0	0	0
	African Community Movement	1,155	0.16	0	0	0
	United Independent Front	536	0.07	0	0	0
	South African Progressive Civic Organisation	349	0.05	0	0	0
	Independents			0	–	0
Total		723,740	100.00	60	60	120

August 2016 election

Main article: 2016 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.

Party		List			Ward			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	177,551	46.66	33	177,920	46.75	24	57
	African National Congress	157,920	41.50	15	153,496	40.34	35	50
	Economic Freedom Fighters	19,132	5.03	5	19,819	5.21	1	6
	United Democratic Movement	6,969	1.83	2	7,600	2.00	0	2
	African Independent Congress	6,144	1.61	1	1,078	0.28	0	1
	United Front of the Eastern Cape	3,048	0.80	1	4,133	1.09	0	1
	Congress of the People	2,658	0.70	1	2,929	0.77	0	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	1,313	0.35	1	1,399	0.37	0	1
	Patriotic Alliance	1,110	0.29	1	930	0.24	0	1
	Alternative Democrats	942	0.25	0	287	0.08	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	941	0.25	0	976	0.26	0	0
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	862	0.23	0	447	0.12	0	0
	African People's Convention	591	0.16	0	142	0.04	0	0
	Independent Civic Organisation	467	0.12	0	256	0.07	0	0
	Azanian People's Organisation	358	0.09	0	303	0.08	0	0
	Ubuntu Party	143	0.04	0	165	0.04	0	0
	Christian Democratic Party	133	0.03	0	1,253	0.33	0	0
	Building a Cohesive Society	111	0.03	0	123	0.03	0	0
	African Power Movement	96	0.03	0	150	0.04	0	0
	Independents				7,142	1.88	0	0
Total		380,489	100.00	60	380,548	100.00	60	120
Valid votes		380,489	98.30		380,548	98.21
Invalid/blank votes		6,569	1.70		6,954	1.79
Total votes		387,058	100.00		387,502	100.00

November 2021 election

Main article: 2021 South African municipal elections

Party		List			Ward			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	105,487	40.04	25	104,520	39.80	23	48
	African National Congress	104,339	39.60	11	103,104	39.26	37	48
	Economic Freedom Fighters	16,859	6.40	8	16,803	6.40	0	8
	Northern Alliance	5,499	2.09	3	5,726	2.18	0	3
	African Christian Democratic Party	4,427	1.68	2	4,317	1.64	0	2
	Freedom Front Plus	4,310	1.64	2	3,968	1.51	0	2
	Defenders of the People	3,640	1.38	2	3,859	1.47	0	2
	Patriotic Alliance	3,473	1.32	2	3,724	1.42	0	2
	Abantu Integrity Movement	2,914	1.11	1	2,758	1.05	0	1
	United Democratic Movement	2,832	1.07	1	2,665	1.01	0	1
	African Independent Congress	1,798	0.68	1	990	0.38	0	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	1,347	0.51	1	1,260	0.48	0	1
	Good	1,286	0.49	1	1,485	0.57	0	1
	African Transformation Movement	683	0.26	0	537	0.20	0	0
	United Independent Movement	603	0.23	0	694	0.26	0	0
	Congress of the People	587	0.22	0	651	0.25	0	0
	United Front of the Eastern Cape	585	0.22	0	539	0.21	0	0
	Al Jama-ah	580	0.22	0	475	0.18	0	0
	Azanian People's Organisation	426	0.16	0	480	0.18	0	0
	Mandela Bay Community Movement	401	0.15	0	131	0.05	0	0
	Compatriots of South Africa	271	0.10	0	299	0.11	0	0
	Independent South African National Civic Organisation	271	0.10	0	229	0.09	0	0
	God Save Africa	211	0.08	0	74	0.03	0	0
	Independent Civic Movement	160	0.06	0	101	0.04	0	0
	Abantu Batho Congress	125	0.05	0	131	0.05	0	0
	Spectrum National Party	118	0.04	0	105	0.04	0	0
	Africa Restoration Alliance	116	0.04	0	143	0.05	0	0
	The Organic Humanity Movement	113	0.04	0	114	0.04	0	0
	Independents				2,720	1.04	0	0
Total		263,461	100.00	60	262,602	100.00	60	120
Valid votes		263,461	98.66		262,602	98.73
Invalid/blank votes		3,584	1.34		3,370	1.27
Total votes		267,045	100.00		265,972	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		583,270	45.78		583,270	45.60

By-elections from November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since November 2021.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
4 May 2022	29300020		African National Congress		African National Congress
6 Jul 2022	29300043		African National Congress		African National Congress
14 Aug 2024	2		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
14 Aug 2024	9		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance