COPE internal tracking shows groundswell of support in Western Cape as elections approach

The Congress of the People in the Western Cape says that its internal tracking polls show that the party is well positioned in the province with a growing groundswell of support evident. Provincial spokesperson Nils Flaatten says that this week's mass defection from the Democratic Alliance, where more than 800 DA members migrated to COPE, is the tip of the iceberg.

"Our current projections show that we will perform well at the ballot," says Flaatten, noting that COPE should attract 26% of the vote, a 12% increase in projections measured a month ago. "There seems to be a marked swing toward COPE among the electorate. Feedback we have had indicates that the delivery driven policies of the party along with the mounting support for Dr Allan Boesak as Premier Candidate and his humanist approach to politics. Yesterday's defection en masse from the DA a manifestation of our tracking poll," he says.

Flaatten says that the party has been working hard at community level, electioneering while building structures for the youngest contender in this year's poll. "It has been a significant challenge for us to build a party in next to no time. But voter's disillusion with the ruling party and toothless opposition has paved the way for a the new alternative and fresh perspectives that COPE offers."

He says that COPE is in touch with what is happening on the ground. "Through our community work and tireless consultation we have amassed volumes of citizen's concerns and discovered that sometimes solutions are as simple as the City of Cape Town installing street lights to help curb crime. This is what COPE is there for - not to battle for votes on street poles and column centimetres, but to listen to our communities, to learn of and collectively solve issues big or small that are facing our people."

The COPE Western Cape tracking poll shows that the two largest opposition parties to the ANC will, along with other parties, secure the Western Cape and possible govern in coalition. Says Flaatten: "COPE will co-govern with any party that shares its fundamental principles and values. We will not, however, work with the African National Congress."

Statement issued by Nils Flaatten, Congress of the People Western Cape, April 2 2009

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter