Celebration: The Democratic Alliance comfortably retained its majority in the Western Cape. (Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
CSenior electoral officials confirmed on Saturday they were contesting the results of elections in the Western Cape, where the nearly completed vote count shows the Democratic Alliance will hold onto a comfortable majority, after being defeated by 20 parties and independent candidates.
The challenges under Section 55 of the Election Act were filed collectively late on Friday, citing discrepancies in the handling of votes in several districts in the state, which one observer likened to a “class action lawsuit.”
The DA passed the two million vote mark nationwide on Friday night, half of which came from its Western Cape provincial base.
DA Premier Alan Winde declared victory after his party passed the one million vote mark in the province. His speech at the SA Electoral Commission's results centre in Cape Town was disrupted by members of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Patriotic Alliance and other parties shouting “recount!”
With approximately 98% of the votes counted, the DA received approximately 55.3% of the vote, down only slightly from 55.45% in 2019.
Heading into Wednesday's election, the party's majority could be under threat from the populist PA, which has a strong base in some Cape Platte constituencies. But while Gayton McKenzie's party surged to nearly 8%, well ahead of the EFF, it failed to make any major gains on the Cape Flats.
Voters in the Western Cape have not spared the ANC as it prepares for coalition talks after a humiliating defeat that left it without a majority nationwide. The party's approval rating in the province is 19.5%, up from 28.6% five years ago.
The EFF rose from 4% in 2019 to 5.2% on Saturday morning.
The Good Party lost nearly half the vote share it got five years ago, down from 3.01%, while former president Jacob Zuma's new party, Umkhonto weSizwe, won just 0.55% of the vote in the province. Al-Jama'ah won about 1.3% of the vote, a slight improvement on 2019.
This is the fourth consecutive time that the DA has won a majority of seats in the state.
The IEC expected the consolidation of results in the Western Cape to be completed around midday on Saturday.
The final national results were scheduled to be announced at 6pm on Sunday after processing all the objections received from across the country.
