The Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) metro, which is considered one of the crown jewels of the Eastern Cape, is on a knife's edge, following the municipal elections, with the African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA) in a neck-on-neck race to gain outright control of the metro.

By Wednesday evening, only 65% of the vote as counted and the ANC was in the lead. But the DA was not too far behind with 39%.

Chief electoral officer of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) Sy Mamabolo said at a press briefing on Wednesday evening that officials would not go to bed till all votes are counted.

On Thursday morning, it was clear that there would not be an outright winner in NMB.

Both the ANC and DA had 38 council seats, scoring 39.4% and 39.9% respectively. So far, 96% of the vote has been counted.

The race for Nelson Mandela Bay was a heated affair since the ANC took an early lead on Wednesday morning. It kept steady, but its lead narrowed by mid-afternoon.

At one stage, the ANC had 2044 more votes than the DA.

At the time, the ANC's 118 785 votes secured them a slim 40% lead while the DA edged ever closer with its 116 741 votes (or 39% of the vote).

By 23:00 on Wednesday, the ANC was still in the lead with 40% of the vote, and the DA behind them with 39%.

Polling suggests that the DA will overtake the ANC and get around 43% of the vote. The ANC, it has been suggested, will get around 39% to 40% of the vote.

By 07:00 on Thursday, the IEC's results website showed the DA slightly in the lead with 39.92% to the ANC's 39.43%. As it stands, both parties have secured 48 seats in council.

Previously, the DA suggested that it was open to putting together a coalition government with the same political parties that supported it previously.

The city has recent experience with coalition governments. This proved to be unstable.

In 2016, the DA got 47% of the vote, and the ANC 41%. The DA won 57 seats in the 120-seat council in the 2016 elections, as opposed to the ANC's 50.

The DA formed a coalition with the ACDP (one seat), Cope (one seat), and the UDM (two seats) to obtain an outright majority. Other parties in the council were the EFF (six seats), Patriotic Alliance (one seat), African Independent Congress (one seat), and the United Front of the Eastern Cape (one seat).

DA Eastern Cape deputy leader said she was certain that the DA would govern NMB.

She said, "Be it in a coalition or outright, we will govern. I think in Nelson Mandela Bay, we should go and show again what we can do there. Voters have swayed to smaller parties, but it is also because of the smaller parties that we had a fragmented municipality. Because of this we will then show what we can do in the NMB. Our estimates are that should have to go into coalition, we already have a strong coalition going. We will then just see who we can add to the coalition. There will definitely be more talks."

She added that in Buffalo City, they were confident of significant growth, despite the ANC's stronghold there.

The ANC's provincial elections head, Mziwonke Ndabeni, said the ANC's lead was consistent, even if the margins became slimmer.

"We are not worried about NMB. We are still hoping for the best. We are in the lead. For now, we have not discussed any coalitions with any party yet. It will also be led by the national officials of the ANC. We, of course, want to govern outrightly, but if we don’t get the votes we need, we will be forced by the conditions to talk to other parties."