ANC retains Gauteng, but support drops

The ANC received 53.59 percent (2 348 564 votes of the 4 382 163 valid votes cast provincially), down from 64.04 percent in 2009.

This was the ANC’s worst provincial performance in this year’s election.

Gauteng was the last province to complete counting and was fiercely contested by the ANC, the DA and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

The DA improved from 21.86 percent in 2009, securing 30.78 percent of the provincial vote this year to retain its position as official opposition in the province.

Newcomer, the EFF clinched 10.30 percent of the vote, largely replacing Congress of the People’s (Cope) presence from 2009.

This year, Cope only secured 0.49 percent (21 652 votes) compared to the 7.78 percent support it had in 2009, and did not win a seat in the provincial legislature.

The party had the third highest support in Gauteng in 2009.

According to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), five parties won seats in Gauteng’s provincial legislature.

The ANC received 40 seats and the DA secured 23 seats, while the EFF won eight seats, and the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Freedom Front Plus had one seat each.

However, the ANC lost support in the key regions of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, only managing 53.63 percent, 50.96 percent and 56.41 percent respectively.

Prior to the elections, political analysts anticipated that issues such as the Nkandla scandal and e-tolling could impact the party’s support.

However, although the party acknowledged the drop in support and expressed its disappointment, it would not comment on the reasons for this decline.