South Africa’s DA May Lose Majority in Western Cape, SRF Says

Support for the Democratic Alliance is slipping in South Africa’s Western Cape and the political party may be forced to govern the province through a coalition following May 29 elections, a survey showed.

Support for the party, which has held a majority in the province that hosts Cape Town since 2009, slipped to 53% in March in terms of voting intentions compared with 64% in July, the poll by the Social Research Foundation showed. That, the group said, is within its margin of error of 4.4%.

“It is plausible for the election to deliver a coalition government in the Western Cape,” the SRF said.

The DA is still likely to remain by far the biggest party in the provincial vote, with the African National Congress at just 17% in second place. Still, the Western Cape is the only one out of South Africa’s nine regions in which the official opposition holds a majority and a loss would be seen as a setback.

The ANC currently controls all of others, although earlier surveys show its control is under threat in several.
The SRF poll of 815 people was modeled on 66% turnout. The public-policy organization was founded in 2021. Its chairman, Frans Cronje, is a former chief executive of the Institute of Race Relations and has consulted for South Africa’s biggest political parties, companies and richest people.

This article and image originally appeared on Bloomberg