The May edition - ‘The Sleeping Giant: 2019 Post-Election Analysis’ - analyses of some of the key trends and patterns of the national and provincial elections held on 8 May 2019.
Two key takeaways come to the fore. The first is the decline of the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA), and the rise of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus). The second is the depth and breadth of voter apathy and the effect it has had both on turnout (a record low 65.99%) and the legitimacy of the ANC’s majority.
Both the ANC and the DA suffered losses to those parties that stand at their ideological extremes: the ANC to the radical, populist and socialist impulses that define the EFF, the DA to the conservative, Christian values that define the FF Plus.
There is a silent majority out there, which is significant and is growing - the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) registers fewer and fewer voters each year and political parties are stretched to the limit. The legitimacy not just of the ANC’s vote hangs in the balance, but also of South Africa’s electoral system.
The Fast Stats pages, with financial and other statistics, are included.
