THE African National Congress (ANC) will be second only to the Congress of the People (COPE) in the number of lost seats in the 400-member National Assembly, according to a preliminary estimate by BDlive.
By 10.30am on Friday the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had confirmed that 95% of results had be counted at the more than 2,200 voting stations scattered across the country.
The ANC had garnered 10,551,962 votes, or 62.8% of the total cast. The Democratic Alliance (DA) stood with 3,725,087 votes, or 21.2%.
Third place went to the newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters with 1,042,876 votes.
As the National Assembly’s seats are allocated on a proportional representation basis it means that the percentages gained in the elections becomes important to determine the number of seats a party is allocated.
News, views and analysis of South Africa's national and provincial electionsFor a political party to obtain one seat it needs about 0.25% of the national vote, or between 37,000 and 50,000 actual votes, depending on voter turnout.
For the top three parties it means that the ANC loses 13 seats to 250, its biggest lost since the advent of democracy in 1994.
After the 2009 elections, the ANC lost its two-thirds majority, and the ability to alter the constitution, that translated into the loss of four seats.
The DA has gained the most seats. The party’s allocation should climb to about 89 seats from its previous allocation of 67 seats.
The EFF, which will appear in the National Assembly for the first time, looks set to get 23 or 24 seats.
A shrunken COPE will be left with only three seats after making its National Assembly debut with 30 seats after the 2009 elections.
The Inkatha Freedom Party, which obtained 409,219 votes, will see its number of seats chopped from 18 to nine.
The National Freedom Party, which is another newcomer, will gain six seats as it received 272,257 votes.
Two other parties will make their debuts when the National Assembly sits for its first session on May 21. The African Independent Congress looked set to get two seats after receiving more than 90,000 votes, and Agang SA may get one seat, with more than 44,000 votes.
The Freedom Front Plus is likely to retain four seats and the African Christian Democratic Party is hoping to hold onto its three seats.
The Pan Africanist Congress, Azanian People’s Organisation, the African People’s Convention, and the Minority Front will exit the National Assembly after failing to obtain enough votes for a single seat.
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