Cape Town — As election results start coming to a close, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has crossed the threshold and is closing in on winning an outright majority in the Western Cape.
The leading opposition rivals to the ANC has been in charge of the Western Cape since 2009, and remains the only province where the blue party has been strong at the polls. As of 4pm on Friday 31 May, the DA currently has 52.79% of the votes in the Western Cape, with 76.4% of votes accounted for, according to the election results dashboard.
According to Daily Maverick, DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said the party was “humbled by the massive response from the electorate across the Western Cape”. He said the DA did conducted their campaign trail, did research and came with solutions to serve the people of the province for the next five years.
The 2024 election writes a new chapter for SA. The DA emerges as the only party in Parliament that has grown meaningfully – and we won the Western Cape outright. Thank you to every voter who grew the DA and turned the ANC into a minority party. https://t.co/6jpUGILiEB
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) May 31, 2024
“We fully understood that what the real issues are for all of the citizens in the Western Cape, not just one ethnic group or one or one cultural group or one religious group, but which something or issues which is fed through all of the communities”. He said
Meanwhile, the ANC are still the second-strongest party in the Western Cape, notching 20.56% of the votes, while the Patriotic Alliance (PA), led by the controversial Kenny Kunene and Gayton McKenzie, are 3rd with 8.77%.
According to EWN, the PA’s Cape Metro secretary, Cheslyn Steenberg, is confident its performance will be enough for its first seats in the Western Cape legislature.
“We are not like the ANC that smiles with them and eats with them, we are there to hold them accountable, to ensure services and budgets are allocated to the neediest of the needy.” he said.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
