Politics of the Western Cape

The politics of the Western Cape are 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. This election marked the first time since the end of apartheid that a party scored an overall majority in the province. The DA leader Helen Zille replaced Lynne Brown as Premier on 6 May 2009.

In the election of 7 May 2014 the DA maintained its hold on the province, increasing its majority to 59.4%.

The Western Cape is also a very volatile art of South Africa especially in 2015 when student protests broke out and resulted a mass break-ins into parliament. The African National Congress has also claimed that it would make the Western Cape "Ungovernable" and has also been caught framing Helen Zille and stated that she tried to hire a hacker to attack the African National Congress and delete their important documents.

The Western Cape is also the only province that isn't a black majority so the residents have made small strides to get independence, like the Freedom Front Plus who wants to make the Western Cape an autonomous region apart from the rest of the Republic of South Africa.

Election results

Party		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−
	Democratic Alliance	1,259,645	59.38	3.25	26	2
	African National Congress	697,664	32.89	1.34	14	0
	Economic Freedom Fighters	44,762	2.11	New	1	New
	African Christian Democratic Party	21,696	1.02	0.45	1	0
	Al Jama-ah	13,182	0.62	0.06	0	0
	Congress of the People	12,520	0.59	7.15	0	3
	Independent Civic Organisation	11,949	0.56	New	0	New
	Freedom Front Plus	11,587	0.55	0.12	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	10,199	0.48	0.23	0	0
	Patriotic Alliance	8,510	0.40	New	0	New
	African Independent Congress	6,508	0.31	New	0	New
	Agang SA	6,398	0.30	New	0	New
	Pan Africanist Congress	3,591	0.17	0.06	0	0
	National Party	2,694	0.13	0.04	0	0
	African People's Convention	1,291	0.06	0.03	0	0
	African National Party	1,249	0.06	New	0	New
	Indigenous Peoples Organisation	1,180	0.06	New	0	New
	United Christian Democratic Party	1,158	0.05	0.02	0	0
	Inkatha Freedom Party	1,078	0.05	0.01	0	0
	Azanian People's Organisation	844	0.04	0.03	0	0
	National Freedom Party	763	0.04	New	0	New
	South African Progressive Civic Organisation	642	0.03	New	0	New
	First Nation Liberation Alliance	635	0.03	New	0	New
	Kingdom Governance Movement	490	0.02	New	0	New
	Sibanye Civic Association	478	0.02	New	0	New
	Peoples Alliance	440	0.02	New	0	New
Total		2,121,153	100.00		42
Valid votes		2,121,153	99.12
Spoilt votes		18,937	0.88
Total votes cast		2,140,090	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,941,333	72.76
Source: IEC

Notes:

See also

• Politics of South Africa
• Government of the Western Cape