The Congress of the People won 10 wards in 27 by-elections in the Western Cape on Wednesday, an election official said on Thursday.

Cope contested the elections through independent candidates because it was still in the process of registering as a political party.

Provincial electoral officer Courtney Sampson said of the eight wards in the City of Cape Town, six were won by independent candidates (Cope) and two were won by the Democratic Alliance.

Outside the City of Cape Town, the DA won seven wards, the
Independent Democrats won five, independent candidates (Cope) won four and the African National Congress won three.

The ANC was not able to contest the eight wards in the City of Cape Town, nor four wards in the Cederberg area because it had not submitted its candidate list to the Independent Electoral Commission on time.

"One needs to take that into consideration," said Sampson.

"What is also notable is that the voting percentage in the City of Cape Town was exceptionally low," he added.

The results had not been verified yet.

Cope's Western Cape spokesman Mbulelo Ncedana said the new
organisation was "very happy" with the results.

"But we are disappointed to the fact that there was intimidation. We know we could have won one of the other wards if the behaviour was normal."

Ncedana said the ANC misled its supporters by telling them that the court had ruled there would be no elections on Wednesday.

He also claimed that one of Cope's woman volunteers was beaten up by an ANC member in Phillipi after she urged people to go out and vote.

But Sampson said no such complaint had been laid with the IEC and the police could not confirm the incident either.

Sampson said three cases of intimidation were reported to the IEC, but none of them involved physical violence. On further investigation, the IEC did not find much substance to the reports.

DA leader Helen Zille said the results showed that "never before... has the appetite for change been so great".

"The results show that Cope is splitting the ANC vote. Cope is not eating into the DA's support base," said Zille.

Independent Democrats MP Sakkie Jenner said the by-elections indicated a loss of power to the ANC.

"This is a sign of things to come in the Western Cape next year, where the ANC will no longer pose a threat to us," said Jenner.