The Western Cape will remain governed by the Democratic Alliance; the party has won the province’s vote with a majority of 55.58%, reduced from last year.
In a statement to TimesLIVE, Electoral Commission Head Courtney Sampson congratulated the party on its achievement.
“My warm congratulations to the DA. Alan Winde, you may become the next premier if your colleagues there in the legislature decide to vote for you,” she said.
In 2014, the political party received 59.38% of the votes for the Western Cape.
Sampson further shared that compared to previous provincial elections the turnout dropped by 6% from last year, at around 66%.
“That’s a comparison we must make, 6% down from the last elections with a bigger voters’ roll. It’s quite possible that 66% can represent more people.”
Overall the ANC support in the Western Cape has dropped, with the party only gaining 28.5% of the votes. According to reports, the latest results released show that the ANC will be governing the North West and Northern Cape.
According to a statement by the IEC, the National Results Operations Centre (ROC) captured results of 20 632 out of the 22 924 voting stations on Friday morning. An estimated 18 773 have been finalised.
“Based on the results captured to date, voter turnout was 65.52% nationally, with the highest turnout in Gauteng (71.89%) and the lowest in Limpopo (58.77%),” said the IEC.