A look back at national election results

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Staff writer

South Africa has held five national elections since 1994, one every five years. As we await the results of the country’s latest national vote, which took place on 7 May 2014 in South Africa’s 20th year of democracy, we look back at past election results.

Election results 1994 to 2009
The relative number of National Assembly seats in Parliament political parties have won in South Africa’s four previous democratic elections.

The proportional representation system

The proportional representation system is also called the party list system. Every vote counts. The total number of votes cast for a party decides the number of seats it gets in Parliament.

Parties draw up lists of candidates, and the number of people that get in will be decided by the number of seats the party wins. This is the system used in all South African national elections since 1994, and will be used in this year’s elections.

For example:

  • Party A: 100 000 votes – 100 seats
  • Party B: 20 000 votes – 20 seats
  • Party C: 50 000 votes – 50 seats

The first 100 people on Party A’s list will get seats in Parliament, as will the first 20 people on Party B’s list and the first 50 people on Party C’s list.

The 1994 elections

The struggles waged by exiled liberation movements and communities inside South Africa, together with international pressure, led to the unbanning of organisations and a negotiated transition period, including the drawing up of a democratic Constitution.

The resulting 1994 elections were historic because they were the first-ever non-racial democratic vote in South Africa.

After fighting for so long for democracy, 19.7-million South Africans cast their ballots, with a turnout of 86.9% of registered voters.

1994 NATIONAL ELECTION RESULTS
Votes won National Assembly seats
African National Congress (ANC) 62.7% 252
National Party (NP) 20.4% 82
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 10.5% 43
Freedom Front (FF) 2.2% 9
Democratic Party (DP) 1.8% 7
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) 1.3% 5
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) 0.5% 2

1994-RESULTS

The 1999 elections

The 1996 Constitution said that there must be elections every five years, so new national and provincial elections had to be held before the end of July 1999. The were held on 2 June 1999, with 16.2-million South Africans voting for a registered voter turnout of 89.3%.

1999 NATIONAL ELECTION RESULTS
Votes won National Assembly seats
African National Congress (ANC) 66.4% 266
Democratic Party (DP) 9.6% 38
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 8.6% 34
New National Party (NNP) 6.9% 28
United Democratic Movement (UDM) 3.4% 14
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) 1.4% 6
Freedom Front (FF) 0.8% 3
United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) 0.8% 3
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) 0.7% 3
Federal Alliance (FA) 0.5% 2
Minority Front (MF) 0.3% 1
Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (AEB) 0.3% 1
Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) 0.2% 1

1999-RESULTS

The 2004 elections

South Africa’s third democratic national and provincial elections were held on 14 April 2004.

2004 NATIONAL ELECTION RESULTS
Votes won National Assembly seats
African National Congress (ANC) 69.7% 279
Democratic Alliance (DA) 12.4% 50
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 7.0% 28
United Democratic Movement (UDM) 2.3% 9
Independent Democrats (ID) 1.7% 7
New National Party (NNP) 1.7% 7
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) 1.6% 6
Freedom Front Plus (FF+) 0.9% 4
United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) 0.75 3
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) 0.73 3
Minority Front (MF) 0.35 2
Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) 0.25 2

2004-RESULTS

The 2009 elections

The fourth democratic national and provincial elections were held on 22 April 2009.

2009 ELECTION RESULTS
Votes won National Assembly seats
African National Congress (ANC) 65.9% 264
Democratic Alliance (DA) 16.7% 67
Congress of the People (Cope) 7.4% 30
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 4.6% 18
Independent Democrats (ID) 0.9% 4
United Democratic Movement (UDM) 0.9% 4
Freedom Front Plus (FF+) 0.8% 4
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) 0.8% 3
United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) 0.4% 2
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) 0.3% 1
Minority Front (MF) 0.3% 1
Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) 0.2% 1
African People’s Convention (APC) 0.2% 1

2009-RESULTS