THE ANC’s Eugene Johnson has been elected the executive mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay metro municipality after winning with over 60 votes.
She beat the DA’s mayoral candidate Nqaba Bhanga by one vote.
Johnson was voted in with the help of a bloc comprising GOOD, AIM, the UDM, DOP, Northern Alliance and PAC.
The council consists of 120 seats and only one councillor was absent when new councillors were sworn in, after which the speaker and mayor were elected.
The metro’s council is split evenly between the ANC and DA, each of which have 48 seats, followed by the EFF with nine seats, the National Assembly with three seats, the ACDP and Freedom Front Plus with two, among other parties.
The inaugural sitting of Nelson Mandela Bay metro’s newly elected council proceeded in an orderly fashion on Monday morning.