ANC Western Cape spokesperson Khalid Said at the Results Operations Centre in Century City, Cape Town (Chelsea Ogilvie/News24)
- The Western Cape Provincial Assembly will welcome two new political parties.
- The DA maintains a strong presence in the state, with a majority of 24 seats.
- However, new parties are expected to change the dynamics of the state legislature.
- Track the latest results on our election map.
The Western Cape legislature will have two new parties representing the people of the province, but the DA will maintain its majority with 24 seats and the ANC will see its opposition seats reduced from 12 to eight.
“The DA is very proud to have retained the Western Cape after a hard-fought election. With over 55% support, the DA maintained a majority of seats in the provincial assembly,” DA provincial leader Terthuis Simmers told News24.
He added that all residents would be informed about the convening of the assembly soon.
Meanwhile, after the ANC lost four seats in the province, spokesman Khalid Sayed said: “We remain the opposition party but we have been weakened by the reduction in our seat allocation. We need to reflect on why this happened.”
“Fewer seats naturally means fewer constituencies to represent. We need to ensure we serve the people of the state,” he added.
LIVE | The ANC lost 71 seats in parliament, the DA gained three and the MKP won 58.
The EFF retained two seats in the state, while the Good Party, FF Plus, Al Jama'a and ACDP retained one seat each, and the National Congress of Coloured Peoples also retained one seat.
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) chipped away at the DA's support, particularly in the Western Cape, winning three seats in its first elections.
The DA retained its majority in the Western Cape provincial legislature, while the ANC lost its seats. (Image: Charlene Rood/News24)
Initially, plans were afoot to increase the number of seats in the Legislature: the Legislature's legal department wanted to have no more than 80 seats, with one seat for every 100,000 people in the state.
News24 previously reported that severe budget cuts mean plans to expand state assembly seat allocations cannot go ahead.
At the time, DA state parliamentary group and chair of the standing committee on premiers and constitutional affairs Christopher Fry told News24 the drive to expand parliament was not just a DA initiative but one that was widely supported across all parties in parliament.
“If we go by the seating formula set by the Election Commission, we will have to almost double the size of Parliament, which will obviously entail huge financial costs,” he said.
