Democratic Alliance (South Africa)

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a liberal South African political party. The party has been the second-largest in South Africa since its foundation in 2000. The DA's ideology has been associated with both centrist and centre-right policies.

The party, considered to be South Africa's most diverse in terms of membership and voters, draws its support predominantly from Afrikaans and English speakers, people aged over 35, as well as white South Africans, Indian/Asian communities, and Coloured communities.

A member of Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network, the DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present.

The DA has a variety of ideologically liberal tendencies, including neoliberalism, social liberalism, classical liberalism, and conservative liberalism.

The current leader of the party is Cape Town MayorGeordin Hill-Lewis, who assumed leadership on 12 April 2026, after the party's Federal Congress. Ashor Sarupen is Chairperson of both the Federal Council and the Federal Executive, the highest decision-making structures of the party.

In the aftermath of the 2024 general election, the DA entered into a ruling grand coalition with the African National Congress (ANC) and various other parties, called a government of national unity, formed by ten parties holding a combined 287 seats in the National Assembly of South Africa (72%).

The DA has governed Cape Town, South Africa's legislative capital and second-largest city by population, with a majority since the 2006 municipal elections. The party has also governed the Western Cape, one of the country's nine provinces, with a majority since the 2009 general election.