Politics of the Western Cape

Western Cape

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The politics of the Western Cape is more complex than in most other provinces of South Africa, because, unlike the other provinces, the African National Congress (ANC) does not dominate the political landscape.

In the election of 2004, no party achieved an absolute majority in the province, with the ANC having a plurality of 45% of the votes. However, the ANC was in an alliance with the New National Party (NNP), which had 11% of the votes, which allowed the ANC-NNP coalition to form a provincial government. During the 2005 floor crossing period all of the NNP members of the Provincial Parliament moved to the ANC, giving the ANC an absolute majority in the province. The ANC chose Ebrahim Rasool as Premier; in 2008 he was replaced by Lynne Brown. The provincial leader of the ANC is Mcebisi Skwatsha.

The official opposition in the Western Cape after the 2004 elections was the Democratic Alliance (DA), which received 27% of the vote in the provincial ballot. A multi-party coalition led by the DA has also controlled the City of Cape Town, the most populous municipality in the province, since the 2006 municipal elections.

In the election of 22 April 2009 the ANC was unseated by the DA, which took 51.46% of the vote.[1] This election marks the first time since the end of apartheid that a party has scored an overall majority in the province. The DA leader Helen Zille replaced Lynne Brown as Premier on 6 May 2009.[2]

Election results

e • d Summary of the 22 April 2009 Western Cape Provincial Parliament election results[3]
Party Votes % +/− Seats +/− from last
election[note 1]		 +/− from before
this election[note 2]
Democratic Alliance 1,012,568 51.46 +24.35 22 +10 +11
African National Congress 620,918 31.55 −13.70 14 −5 −13
Congress of the People[note 3] 152,356 7.74 +7.74 3 +3 +3
Independent Democrats 92,116 4.68 −3.16 2 −1 +1
African Christian Democratic Party 28,995 1.47 −1.97 1 −1 −1
United Democratic Movement 14,013 0.71 −1.04 0 −1 0
Al Jama-ah[note 3] 9,039 0.46 +0.46 0 0 0
Freedom Front Plus 8,384 0.43 −0.19 0 0 0
Pan Africanist Congress 4,467 0.23 −0.19 0 0 0
Africa Muslim Party 4,333 0.22 −0.48 0 0 0
Christian Democratic Alliance[note 4] 3,987 0.20 −0.47 0 0 0
National Party[note 3] 3,378 0.17 +0.17 0 0 0
Cape Party[note 3] 2,552 0.13 +0.13 0 0 0
National Alliance[note 5] 1,996 0.10 +0.10 0 0 0
African People's Convention[note 5] 1,778 0.09 +0.09 0 0 0
United Christian Democratic Party 1,552 0.08 −0.15 0 0 0
Azanian People's Organisation 1,291 0.07 −0.03 0 0 0
United Independent Front[note 6] 1,178 0.06 +0.06 0 0 −1
Inkatha Freedom Party 1,158 0.06 −0.08 0 0 0
Peace and Justice Congress 630 0.03 −0.18 0 0 0
Universal Party 599 0.03 −0.02 0 0 0
National Democratic Convention[note 6] 463 0.02 +0.02 0 0 0
Total 1,967,751 100.00 42
Spoilt votes 20,026

Notes:

  1. ^ Change in seats compared to the composition of the legislature after the election of 14 April 2004.
  2. ^ Change in seats compared to the composition of the legislature after the second floor-crossing period that ended on 15 September 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d Party did not contest the previous election to this legislature.
  4. ^ Successor to the New Labour Party in this legislature.
  5. ^ a b Party did not contest the previous election to this legislature, having been created during the floor-crossing period of 2007.
  6. ^ a b Party did not contest the previous election to this legislature, having been created during the floor-crossing period of 2005.

References

  1. ^ 2009 provincial results News24. 25 April 2009
  2. ^ "Applause as Zille secures premiership". IOL. 6 May 2009. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20090506124045976C370668. Retrieved 6 May 2009. 
  3. ^ "April 22, 2009 General Election Results - Western Cape". Election Resources on the Internet. http://electionresources.org/za/provinces.php?election=2009&province=WC. Retrieved 24 December 2010. 

See also

Province of the Western Cape
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