Still cheerful despite her party's poor showing at the polls, Patricia de Lille, the leader of the Independent Democrats, suggested on Friday that the opposition parties should fight the next election ? that is the 2011 local government polls ? under one banner.

According to the latest figures from the Independent Electoral Commission her party has less than one percent of the vote, at 0.91 percent she could possibly count on four MPs in the National Assembly, well down from the 1.73 percent she gathered in 2004, which won her six seats.

But the Democratic Alliance, which won the election in the Western Cape with half the votes cast, has already been talking about consolidation of the opposition in the future, so De Lille's ideas may fall on fertile ground.

At the same time both the DA and the ID will need the black township credentials that the emerging Congress of the People with its 8 percent of the province's vote would bring to such a consolidation. The DA would also no doubt welcome the voting strength of the neophyte party in other provinces ? especially those with large black majorities, where Cope will form the opposition in the local legislatures.

In any case, De Lille is at least open to offers from the DA as far as participation in the Western Cape government is concerned. "I never said I only wanted to be premier or nothing," she said. Adding that if an offer came of a provincial ministry "I will sit down and consider it."

The ID leader made the point that she does not make these decisions alone: they are made by the party. A party executive meeting is to be held in the next few weeks at which the post-election landscape will be considered, and De Lille's ideas will be put forward.

De Lille also pointed out that the new legislation banning floor crossing will prevent the parties from merging ? at least in the national and provincial assemblies ? but nothing would stop them from fighting elections under a single banner.

"One thing that has to be decided is to agree on a name," she said. Another is who should convene meetings and chair discussions. "It cannot be decided on who is big and who is small," she insisted.

She indicated that possibly an acceptable way forward would be to have an independent chairperson, a university professor perhaps.

De Lille was anxious that the opposition parties should agree on a common platform for their electoral pact. "There should be consensus on what is best for the country, rather than ideology," she said. "There's lots more we agree on than disagree on. Without being prescriptive, we should pigeonhole differences until later," she suggested, "as we did in the Codesa talks."

The ID leader looked forward in the immediate future to policy making precedents coming from the decisions of the courts, first of all on the case she has brought against the former justice minister Brigitte Mabandla for interfering in the NDPP Vusi Pikoli's the decision to charge Jacob Zuma. And then after that has set its precedent, the case she has brought against Bulelani Ngcuka, the former DPP, and Leonard McCarthy, the former head of the Scorpions.