Pretoria - With the conclusion on Saturday of South Africa’s fifth democratic elections, a total 13 of the 29 parties that contested the 2014 elections received enough votes to have representation in the National Assembly in Parliament.
The ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) garnered the most seats in the National Assembly acquiring 249 seats out of a total 400 seats. In the 2009 elections, the ANC obtained 264 seats.
For a political party to obtain one seat in Parliament it needs about 0.25% of the national vote, or between 37 000 and 50 000 actual votes, depending on voter turnout.
There are 400 seats to go around in the National Assembly and every percentage point garnered by a party translates into how many Members of Parliament a party can send to Parliament.
The final results were made known by Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Chairperson Pansy Tlakula at the National Results Operation Centre on Saturday.
This was three days after 18 million South Africans went to the polls in the 2014 national and provincial elections.
The second party to obtain the second highest amount of seats in the National Assembly was the Democratic Alliance (DA) which obtained 89 seats in the 2014 elections. In the 2009 elections the DA obtained 67 seats.
In third place, in terms of seat allocation in the National Assembly, is new kid on the block, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 25 seats.
Coming in fourth place was the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) which secured 10 seats. In the 2009 elections, the party had 18 seats.
The National Freedom Party (NFP) - which is a breakaway of the IFP - had the fifth highest number of seats in the National Assembly, garnering six seats.
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) garnered four seats, while the Congress of the People (Cope) got three seats - the same as the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).
Provincial election results
Announcing the provincial election results in the Eastern Cape, the ANC got the most seats in the provincial legislature receiving 45 seats, followed by the DA with 10 seats and the UDM with four seats.
The ANC also received the majority of seats in the Free State with 22 seats, followed by the DA with five seats and the EFF receiving the third highest seats with two. A total four parties have won seats in the provincial legislature.
In Gauteng, the ANC received 40 seats, the DA 23 and the EFF eight seats. Gauteng has a total of five political parties who have won seats in the legislature.
In KwaZulu-Natal, there are six parties which have won seats in the legislature with the ANC having the most seats at 52, the DA 10, IFP nine and the NFP six.
In Limpopo, four political parties won seats in the legislature, with the majority party, the ANC, garnering 39 seats, the EFF six seats and the DA three seats followed by Cope, with a single seat.
In Mpumalanga, four parties won seats in the legislature with 24 of the seats going to the ANC, DA three, and the EFF with two seats.
In the North West, four political parties won seats with the ANC receiving 23 seats, the EFF five and the DA four seats. The Vryheids Front Plus (VF Plus) obtained a single seat.
In the Northern Cape, four parties won seats. The ANC got 20 seats, the DA seven and the EFF two seats.
In the Western Cape, the DA retained the province after receiving 26 seats followed by the ANC with 14 seats and the EFF and the ACDP each receiving a single seat.
Addressing the glittering ceremony on Saturday night, Tlakula said: “We hope that you will serve South Africa with pride, honour, integrity and humility.”
President Jacob Zuma also addressed the event which falls on the same day that the late former President Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as democratic South Africa’s first president in 1994.
Democracy in South Africa, said Tlakula, was alive, well and thriving.
Among those who attended the ceremony were Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega and some of the leaders of the various parties. – SAnews.gov.za
