The DA was successful in winning back white Afrikaans voters, most of whom voted for FF Plus. (Jaco Marais/Netwerk24)
- Following Wednesday's general election, several changes have been observed among voters in the Western Cape.
- The DA was successful in winning back white Afrikaans voters who had mainly voted for FF Plus.
- In contrast, the Patriotic Alliance stole voters of colour from the DA.
- To keep track of the latest results, Election Map.
The DA's apocalyptic coalition talks have turned white African voters against the FF Plus, while the Patriotic Alliance's charm offensive has chipped away at the ANC and DA's support in the Western Cape.
FF Plus acknowledged that it had lost its traditional support for the DA.
But the DA was reluctant to acknowledge that a large group of coloured voters had defected to the PA.
By Friday evening, with 91% of votes counted, it was clear that the PA posed the biggest threat to the DA's support, with 9% of the vote.
It took the Palestinian Authority at least a decade to reach the electoral support it enjoyed in the Western Cape, in stark contrast to the MK party, which was formed just over six months ago and destroyed the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of the country.
Read | DA on track to win in the Western Cape but could lose majority as PA erodes support base
PA State Secretary Candace Geswind told News24 the party had always been considered a newcomer.
“Now people are realizing what we can do, what our leadership can do, and that it's not just lip service, it's action,” she said.
“If you look at what we've done in local government, what we've done in the municipalities that we've governed, it's clear that we've put our money where our mouth is and our people are fed up with what's going on in this country.”
Geswindt added that the Palestinian Authority is taking a cautious approach to growth.
She said:
So we call ourselves the baby. The baby is born and it's growing. And we're now going to be national representatives. So we had to sit down, see how it goes, and see what we need to build on the manifesto.
Despite being established 10 years ago, the Palestinian Authority has remained on the fringes of South African politics until the 2021 local elections.
Still, his national approval rating was below 1%.
The party's strongest showing was in the Western Cape province in this election, where it received 2.36% of the vote.
In the last national and provincial elections in 2019, the Palestinian Authority received just 652 votes in the Western Cape, a mere 0.03% of the vote.
More recently, the Palestinian Authority (PA) won the constituency in Oudtsholen with 1,279 votes (65.4%), and in the other constituency in Swartland Municipality with 853 votes (40.18%).
My butt hurts translation:
Northern Cape PA won 3 seats in Parliament ????????????????????????????????????????????????
Thank God that He has opened the eyes of enough of His people, if not all of them.
salute
— Gayton McKenzie (@GaytonMcK) May 31, 2024
FF Plus's Erica Rossouw Botha told News24 that the party's loss of supporters of colour and whites was down to a number of factors.
“I think the initial propaganda about the coalition government definitely scared people and that caused us to lose votes. There were some other challenges but most of it was due to the fact that there were so many parties in the election,” she said.
“If you look at the coloured vote you can see that the Palestinian Authority and the Cape Coloured Congress were dominant and they played a big role in the Western Cape.”
Political analyst Daniel Silke added that the Palestinian Authority would be a headache for the DA.
“I think the DA will breathe a huge sigh of relief that the Pennsylvania vote fell short of their 55% majority,” he said.
“For some people, support has been crowded out by the number of political options available and the Patriotic Alliance's preponderance among white voters in the Western Cape. This is not just something we've seen here but in other parts of the country too.”
“The DA has also been successful in getting the message across that voting for a small party like Freedom Front Plus would be a wasted vote and such voters would be better off voting for a larger party.”
Read | 'You shouldn't be here': Gayton McKenzie locked in tense standoff with DA stalwart after Cape Town vote
Mr Silke said white voters were returning to rural constituencies, adding:
I think there will be some soul-searching at Freedom Front Plus on that particular issue.
He said the DA had not been able to expand its influence in South Africa but had been able to retain power in the Western Cape.
“This is an important and key aspect of the broader DA in a valuable province like the Western Cape.”
DA provincial leader Terthuis Simmers said there had been an increase in overall support across the province, the metropolitan area and non-metropolitan areas.
“We now need to analyse the demographics. Obviously, if you look at some of the opposition parties and their track record, it's clear that the Patriotic Alliance, for example, is taking votes away from the ANC, taking quite a lot of votes, and also the GOOD Party,” he said.
Simmers added that the DA ran an aggressive registration campaign.
“In the Western Cape, our registration numbers are far greater than any other party and we believe we have a high conversion rate of new voters who we register and who end up turning up to vote, many of whom are young people,” he said.
The DA's approval rating has fluctuated between 55% and 52%.