“Hundreds sign up for Feinstein’s insurgent campaign as Starmer’s odds lengthen: Bookies slash odds on Feinstein winning and Labour’s campaign numbers fail to impress”
“Former #ANC MP and #Mandela aide Andrew #Feinstein’s campaign to replace Keir #Starmer as MP for #Holborn and St Pancras has been boosted by an extraordinary flood of volunteers and campaigners – in numbers that appear to dwarf those of the local Labour Party.
Feinstein’s campaign has confirmed that as of last week over 740 #volunteers had signed up to assist his campaign via the official campaign website. Feinstein is holding a ‘super weekender’ campaign this weekend to capitalise on the strong response and volunteers have been canvassing, door-knocking, leafleting, posting flyers and phone-banking.”
“[..] betting companies are starting to pay attention, slashing odds on Feinstein’s insurgent campaign replacing Starmer.”
South Africans angry at joblessness, #inequality & power shortages have cut support for the #ANC to 40% in this week's election, ending 3 decades of dominance in #SouthAfrica by the party that freed the country from #apartheid.
A dramatically weakened mandate for the legacy party of #NelsonMandela, down from the 57.5% it got in the previous 2019 parliamentary election, means the ANC must share #power w/a rival in order to keep it.
Vote tallying from Wed's poll was in its final stages on Sat, w/results from 99.53% of polling stations giving the #ANC 40.21%.
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had 21.80%, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by fmr president Jacob #Zuma, had 14.60%, while the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters ( #EFF), led by former ANC youth leader Julius #Malema, got 9.48%.
"We have achieved our mission: ... to bring the ANC below 50%. We want to humble the ANC," #Malema said. “We are going to negotiate w/the ANC" for a coalition deal, though that would not be quite enough for a majority w/o incl’g another party.
The #ANC won every previous election by a landslide since the 1994 vote that ended #WhiteMinorityRule, but over the last decade its support dwindled as the economy stagnated, unemployment rose & roads & power stations crumbled.