Politics of the Northern Cape

Northern Cape
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the Northern Cape
Government Premier - Sylvia Lucas
Provincial Legislature Speaker - Kenny Moemang
Political Parties ANC DA EFF COPE
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The politics of the Northern Cape is dominated by the African National Congress (ANC), but their position has not been as strong as in many other provinces of South Africa.

In the election of 1994, no party achieved an absolute majority in the province, with the ANC having a plurality of 49% of the votes and 15 seats. The National Party had 40% of the votes and 12 seats, the right wing Freedom Front 2 seats and the liberal Democratic Party 1 seat. However, the ANC was in a Government of National Unity with the NP at the national level, and attained the premiership by virtue of its plurality in the Assembly. Manne Dipico of the ANC became the first Premier of the Northern Cape.

With the decline of the National Party, the ANC increased its voter share in later elections and has remained firmly in charge of the province. Dipuo Peters replaced Dipico as Premier in 2004. The official opposition in the Northern Cape after the 2004 elections was the Democratic Alliance (DA), which received 11% of the vote in the provincial ballot. The opposition's hopes of unseating the ANC has not had any success, even with the Congress of the People helping to split the vote in the election of 22 April 2009. Hazel Jenkins became Premier following the election, and COPE became the official opposition.

The 2014 election saw the ANC returned to power once again with an increased mandate, while DA once again became official opposition, following the collapse of COPE.

The ANC enjoys the greatest support in the densely populated and Tswana dominated northern districts, but has faced stronger challenges in the more thinly populated Afrikaans speaking Karoo areas adjoining the DA dominated Western Cape. They currently govern 23 of the 27 local municipalities in the Northern Cape.

Election results

Party		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−
	African National Congress	272,053	64.40	3.65	20	1
	Democratic Alliance	100,916	23.89	6.38	7	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	20,951	4.96	New	2	New
	Congress of the People	15,218	3.60	13.07	1	4
	Freedom Front Plus	4,600	1.09	0.16	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	2,421	0.57	0.43	0	0
	United Christian Democratic Party	1,542	0.37	0.84	0	0
	African People's Convention	1,191	0.28	0.06	0	0
	Azanian People's Organisation	1,062	0.25	0.35	0	0
	Patriotic Alliance	584	0.14	New	0	New
	Independent Civic Organisation	499	0.12	New	0	New
	Pan Africanist Congress	460	0.11	0.11	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	366	0.09	0.06	0	0
	Inkatha Freedom Party	239	0.06	0.13	0	0
	First Nation Liberation Alliance	194	0.05	New	0	New
	National Freedom Party	139	0.03	New	0	New
Total		422,431	100.00		30
Valid votes		422,431	98.58
Spoilt votes		6,106	1.42
Total votes cast		428,537	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		601,080	71.29
Source: IEC

Notes:

See also

• Politics of South Africa
• Government of the Northern Cape