1994 to 2019 Election Results – The rise and fall of the ANC and DA
The Independent Electoral Commission will announce the 2019 National and Provincial Election results on Saturday, which will show that the ANC and DA lost support while the FF+ was a big winner.
The ANC’s support dropped from 62.2% in 2014 to 57.5% in 2019, which is a clear message to the ruling party that corruption and state capture have consequences.
The DA’s support also declined – from 22.2% in 2014 to 20.8% in 2019. This, analysts said, is mainly a result of it losing white votes and infighting in the party.
The FF+ was one of the biggest winners in these elections and increased its support from 0.9% in 2014 to 2.4% in 2019.
Here is a look at how the support of the ANC, DA and FF+ has changed since the first democratic elections in 1994.
ANC – Zuma, state capture, and corruption
The ANC received 62.7% support in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994 and became the ruling party – with Nelson Mandela as president.
Under Mandela’s leadership the party’s support grew to 66.4% in 1999 when Thabo Mbeki took the reins.
Mbeki’s business-friendly policies saw the country show strong economic growth and the ANC’s support increased to just under 70% in 2004.
Mbeki was beaten in the ANC race for president by Jacob Zuma in December 2007, and this is when the party’s decline started.
Its support dropped to 65.9% in 2009 and continued to plummet as corruption and state capture defined Zuma’s presidency.
In the 2014 elections the ANC’s support decreased to 62.2% and in the 2019 elections the party showed a drastic decline to 57.2%.
The image below shows the rise and fall of ANC support under the party’s leaders since 1994.
DA – Excellent growth until 2014, then a decline
The DA, formerly known as the Democratic Party, did fairly poorly in the 1994 elections with only 1.73% of the vote.
This was, however, the start of a tremendous growth period for the party under Tony Leon’s leadership.
The DA increased its support to 9.6% in 1999 and again to 12.4% in the 2004 national elections.
Helen Zille took over the DA’s leadership in 2007 and she continued where Tony Leon left off.
The DA grew its support to 16.7% in the 2009 elections and jumped to 22.2% in the 2014 elections.
After Mmusi Maimane took the DA’s leadership position in May 2015, however, the party started to show cracks with infighting and race politics.
This did not bode well for the DA and its strong growth over the last two decades came to an abrupt end – despite the ANC’s decline.
In the 2019 elections the DA’s support declined to 20.8%, as shown in the image below.
FF+ benefits from the DA’s decline
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the DA’s decline in the 2019 Elections is the FF+.
The party has been struggling to gain support over the past 20 years, with numbers ranging between 0.8% and 0.9% between 1999 and 2014.
In the latest national elections, however, the support for the FF+ somewhat unexpectedly spiked to 2.4%.
The reason for its strong performance, the party said, is the fact that the DA played race politics – which alienated many of its white voters.
The image below shows the support of the FF+ since the first democratic elections in 1994.
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