EDITORIAL
Although the vote counting is not yet complete in the 2019 national and provincial elections the shape of the final results are clear. At the time of writing CSIR projections put the ANC’s final share of the vote at just under 58%, the DA at just under 21%, the EFF at just over 10%, the IFP at 3,5% and the FF Plus at 2,56%.
The DA will retain its absolute majority in the Western Cape, and the ANC should hold onto control of Gauteng with around 50% of the vote. The ANC will retain majorities in the other seven provinces.
This is a result that will disappoint all parties except the FF Plus, which made considerable gains at the expense of the DA among Afrikaner voters in the north of the country.
Turn out declined once again. The ANC’s share of the vote continues on its downward trajectory. The DA meanwhile failed to increase its share of the vote for the first time since 1994. The EFF’s electoral surge dissipated in the final week of the campaign, and while its support is considerably up from 2014 it did not make the breakthrough it hoped for. It has more MPS and MPLs, but has secured no foothold in provincial or national government.
In South Africa, Jan Smuts once observed, “the worst, like the best, never happens”. In a country desperately in need of an alternation of government at national level this was clearly not the best possible outcome; but given the current political and electoral landscape, it was probably not the worst one either.