The 2019 Western Cape provincial election was held on 8 May 2019 to elect the 6th

Western Cape Provincial Parliament The Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) is the legislature of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located at 7 Wale Street in Cape Town. The Provincial Parliament, along with the other provincial legislatures of South Africa, ...

. It was the sixth provincial election held since the establishment of the provincial legislature in 1994. Incumbent Premier

Helen Zille Otta Helene Maree (''née'' Zille ; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she w ...

of the Democratic Alliance (DA) was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third term. The party nominated

Alan Winde Alan Richard Winde (born 18 March 1965) is a South African politician and businessman. He is the 8th and current Premier of the Western Cape, having held the position since 2019. He has been a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament sin ...

to succeed her. The provincial election was won by the ruling Democratic Alliance (DA), but with a reduced majority of 55.45%, down from 59.38% in the 2014 election. The party lost two seats and achieved a majority of 24 seats in the legislature. The Official Opposition

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(ANC) declined from 32.89% to 28.64%, and also lost two seats. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) significantly grew, going from 2.11% to 4.04%, and, consequently, gained one seat. The newly-formed

Good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

received 3.11% of the vote and won a seat. The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) grew to 2.66% and retained its sole seat. The

Freedom Front Plus The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus; af, Vryheidsfront Plus, ''VF Plus'') is a right-wing political party in South Africa that was formed (as the Freedom Front) in 1994. It is led by Pieter Groenewald. Its current stated policy positions include a ...

(FF+) and

Al Jama-ah Al Jama-ah (, ) is a South African political party. It was formed in 2007 by present leader Ganief Hendricks and contested the 2009, 2014 and 2019 national elections. The party aims to support Muslim interests and uphold Shari'a law. The flag ...

also won one seat each.

Background

The 2014 provincial election resulted in the continuation of the incumbent Democratic Alliance provincial government headed by

. This would be Zille's second and final term as Premier of the Western Cape. The party increased its seat total from 22 to 26 seats. The

with

Marius Fransman Marius Llewellyn Fransman (born 15 August 1969) is a retired South African politician and teacher. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament from 2014 to 2016, and as Chairperson of the Western Cape African ...

remained the Official Opposition with 14 seats. The newly-formed Economic Freedom Fighters became the third largest party with only one seat. The African Christian Democratic Party retained its sole seat. On 18 April 2015, incumbent Democratic Alliance Provincial Leader

Ivan Meyer Ivan Henry Meyer (born 28 March 1962) is a South African politician who has been serving as the Western Cape Provincial Minister of Agriculture since 2019. He has held multiple positions in the provincial cabinet. Meyer was elected to the Weste ...

announced that he would not seek re-election. Mayor of Cape Town

Patricia de Lille Patricia de Lille (née Lindt; born 17 February 1951) is a South African politician who is the current Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure and leader of the political party Good. She was previously Mayor of Cape Town from 2011 to 2018, ...

was elected as his successor. In January 2016, allegations of sexual harassment were made against African National Congress Provincial Chairperson

by his former assistant, Louisa Wynand. The party named Khaya Magaxa as his acting successor. Fransman was suspended as Provincial Chairperson in February 2016, and expelled from the African National Congress in November 2016. In February 2017, Patricia de Lille resigned as Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance in order to focus on her mayorship. Deputy Provincial Leader

Bonginkosi Madikizela Bonginkosi Success Madikizela (born 15 March 1975) is a South African politician. Born in Port Shepstone, in the province of Natal, Madikizela soon moved to Khayelitsha and became politically active in the area. He was a member of the African N ...

was designated as the interim leader of the party. Madikizela was later elected to a full term in October 2017. Throughout 2017 and 2018, the Democratic Alliance accused Patricia de Lille of maladministration and covering up corruption in the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026. The remot ...

. She strongly denied these allegations. In April 2018, former Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool was announced as the head of the ANC’s Western Cape elections campaign. In August 2018, Patricia de Lille announced that she would resign as Mayor of Cape Town, effective on 31 October 2018. In September 2018, The Democratic Alliance selected

as the party's Western Cape Premier candidate. In October 2018, Patricia de Lille resigned as both Mayor of Cape Town and member of the Democratic Alliance. She was succeeded by her predecessor,

Dan Plato Daniel Plato (born 5 October 1960), known as Dan Plato, is a South African politician and a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since January 2022, previously serving from June 2011 until October 2018. He is the former mayor of Cap ...

. She subsequently founded a new political party named

in December 2018. The party contested the 2019 elections both nationally and provincially. On 6 November 2018, former Provincial Minister of Community Safety

was elected Mayor of Cape Town on 6 November 2018 during a special council sitting, receiving 146 out of 202 valid votes. Six ballots were spoilt. The vote was held via secret ballot. His main challengers were Xolani Sotashe from the African National Congress and Grant Haskin from the African Christian Democratic Party. Sotashe received 53 votes while Haskin got 3 votes. On 22 January 2019, the

announced that it had selected former Premier of the Western Cape and Mayor of Cape Town,

Peter Marais Petrus Jacobus "Peter" Marais (born 4 September 1948) is a South African politician who is currently serving as a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. He previously served as the inaugural Mayor of Cape Town from 2000 until his dis ...

, as its party premier candidate.

Contesting parties and premier candidates

This is a list of political parties that the IEC presented on 20 March 2019 in the order that they appeared on the provincial ballot:

Democratic Alliance

On 1 July 2018, the Democratic Alliance announced its list of candidates nominated for the position of premier. These candidates included: *Fazloodien Abrahams, an attorney from

Mitchells Plain Mitchells Plain is a large township located within the City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and situated about from the Cape Town city centre. It is one of South Africa's largest residential areas and contains multiple smaller suburbs ...

, Democratic Alliance Provincial Leader, Provincial Minister of Human Settlements,

Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament In the Western Cape province of South Africa, Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) is the designation given to members of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.{{cite web , url=http://www.wcpp.gov.za/content.aspx?pageId=f2264ae2-735f-4add-b532-3 ...

and former Provincial Minister of Housing * David Maynier, Shadow Minister of Finance and Member of the National Assembly *Kelly Baloyi, a student with a degree in political science *Jacobus MacFarlane, an LL.B. law student, politician, businessman and human rights activist *

, Provincial Minister of Economic Opportunities,

and former Provincial Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism *Micheal Mack On 19 September 2018, Democratic Alliance National Leader

Mmusi Maimane Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) is a South African politician, businessman, and Leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) political ...

announced Alan Winde as the party's premier candidate.

African National Congress

By January 2019, the provincial African National Congress had not announced its premier candidate or the list of candidates running to replace acting chairperson Khaya Magaxa. Here are a few candidates that were speculated to be contenders for both the positions of Provincial Chairperson and premier candidate: *

Ebrahim Rasool Ebrahim Rasool (born 15 July 1962) is a South African politician and diplomat who served as the South African Ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2015, as a Member of the National Assembly from 2009 to 2010, and as the 5th Premier of th ...

, Western Cape ANC Head of Elections, former

South African Ambassador to the United States The position of South African ambassador to the United States is the most prestigious and top diplomatic post in South Africa. The position was first held in March 1949, following the upgrade of South Africa's diplomatic mission to an embassy. Th ...

and former

Premier of the Western Cape The Premier of the Western Cape is the head of government of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The current Premier of the Western Cape is Alan Winde, a member of the Democratic Alliance, who was elected in the 2019 election. He took ...

Cameron Dugmore Cameron Muir Dugmore (born 16 September 1963) is a South African politician who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. A member of the African National Congress, he has been serving as a Member of the Western C ...

, former Provincial Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport and former Provincial Minister of Education * Bongani Mkongi, Deputy Minister of Police and Member of the National Assembly of South Africa * Pat Lekker,

On 18 March 2019, the party's leadership announced that its provincial elective conference would be held after the 2019 elections. Provincial-Secretary Faiez Jacobs and acting Provincial Chairperson Khaya Magaxa both declared that they would not contest the elective conference. On 25 April 2019, ANC Provincial Elections Head

announced that the party would not field a premier candidate over concerns that it would divide the provincial party. Soon after the provincial election, the

announced

as the Leader of the Opposition in the

and subsequent premier candidate. Dugmore lost to Alan Winde of the Democratic Alliance on 22 May 2019.

Economic Freedom Fighters

The Economic Freedom Fighters Leader

Julius Malema Julius Sello Malema (born 3 March 1981) is a South African politician and activist who is a Member of Parliament and the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a left-wing party which he founded in 2013. He was formerly the President of ...

announced on 2 February 2019 that the party would not field any premier candidates. City of Cape Town councillor Melikhaya Xego is the party's provincial chairperson. He was also first on the party's provincial parliament list.

African Christian Democratic Party

*Ferlon Christians,

and 2014 ACDP Western Cape Premier candidate In February 2019, the party selected Christians as its premier candidate.

Freedom Front Plus

, former Mayor of Cape Town and former

On 22 January 2019, the party announced that it had nominated Marais as its premier candidate.

Good

, Leader of Good, former

Mayor of Cape Town The Mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. In the past, the position of Mayor has varied between that of an ...

, former Provincial Leader of the Western Cape Democratic Alliance and former Leader of the

Independent Democrats The Independent Democrats (ID) was a South African political party, formed by former Pan Africanist Congress member Patricia de Lille in 2003 via floor crossing legislation. The party's platform was premised on opposition to corruption, with ...

On 10 February 2019, the party announced that it had nominated De Lille as its Western Cape Premier candidate.

Land Party

*Loyiso Nkohla, former

councillor On 26 February 2019, the

Land Party The Land Party ( gl, Partido da Terra, ) is a Galicia (Spain), Galician political party that was established in 2011. Party platform The party platform, party's platform encompasses eight types of sovereignty: * Popular sovereignty, citizen sove ...

selected Nkohla as the party's premier candidate.#Elections2019: Land Party names Cape candidate
IOL, Cape Town, 26 February 2019. Retrieved on 28 April 2019.

Opinion polling

Footnotes

Results

References

{{Reflist 2019 elections in South Africa Western Cape provincial election Elections in the Western Cape