Election 2014 losses could signal death knell for smaller parties
by Natasha Marrian, Paul Vecchiatto and Carol Paton,
2014-05-08 21:16:06.0
THE trend of smaller opposition parties suffering heavy losses at the polls continues. The 2014 polls seem to indicate that Mamphela Ramphele’s Agang SA is failing to even make it out of the starting blocks.
The question is whether the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) — which is emerging as the third largest opposition party nationally — will suffer the same fate as the United Democratic Movement and the Congress of the People (COPE), whose election fortunes dwindled after an initial explosion onto the political scene.
Agang emerged as an alternative to the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) last year. It promised a return to the “dream” of 1994, but fizzled after a failed merger with the DA.
The anti-apartheid activist and her party had obtained only 30,570 or 0,21% of the national vote, with 70% of voting districts counted.
Ramphele’s party table was empty and she did not make an appearance at the Electoral Commission of SA’s National Results Centre in Tshwane yesterday.
The other newcomer to the political space, the EFF, was performing relatively well, with 680,651 votes or 5.23%. EFF policy chief Floyd Shivambu said it would not “undermine the integrity of its programme” by falling prey to the factional fights which led to COPE’s destruction.
It obtained 30 seats in Parliament and 1.3-million votes in 2009.
ANC head of elections Malusi Gigaba likened the EFF to COPE.
“The EFF has come in a big bang, but they will turn out to be a paper tiger,” he said.
COPE’s performance was dismal, with 91,205 votes or 0,72% nationally after 70% of voting districts had been counted. It was expecting two seats in Parliament, likely to be occupied by its president Mosiuoa Lekota and his deputy Willie Madisha.
COPE spokesman Johan Abrie said the party’ s journey to the election was a “bumpy ride”, with a legal battle for the party presidency finalised only last October, and a national congress to elect new leaders in January. It would now have to do some serious introspection and examine what else went wrong, and “how to regroup”.
Mr Abrie said that while the party was partly to blame for its declining performance, the ANC had been “hellbent” on its destruction.
ANC head of campaigns and organising Nomvula Mokonyane said it was “sad” because many parties were formed on the basis of anger with the ANC, hence they were not likely to survive.
Other small parties are refusing to say “die” after taking a hammering, claiming they are still relevant and represent the views and values of a specific constituencies.
Some with long-standing struggle pedigrees, such as the Pan Africanist Congress and the Azanian People’s Organisation, face being eliminated from Parliament. Others, such as the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), which has been in Parliament since 1994, are contempla ting holding fewer seats.
Independent political analyst Sanusha Naidu said small parties struggle with their messages’ relevance to voters, fundraising and their own internal machinations.
Azapo national deputy president Strike Thokane hoped to retain its single seat in the National Assembly. Mr Thokane and ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said a shortage of funds was a problem.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa. Picture: ARNOLD PRONTO
THE trend of smaller opposition parties suffering heavy losses at the polls continues. The 2014 polls seem to indicate that Mamphela Ramphele’s Agang SA is failing to even make it out of the starting blocks.
The question is whether the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) — which is emerging as the third largest opposition party nationally — will suffer the same fate as the United Democratic Movement and the Congress of the People (COPE), whose election fortunes dwindled after an initial explosion onto the political scene.
Agang emerged as an alternative to the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) last year. It promised a return to the “dream” of 1994, but fizzled after a failed merger with the DA.
The anti-apartheid activist and her party had obtained only 30,570 or 0,21% of the national vote, with 70% of voting districts counted.
Ramphele’s party table was empty and she did not make an appearance at the Electoral Commission of SA’s National Results Centre in Tshwane yesterday.
The other newcomer to the political space, the EFF, was performing relatively well, with 680,651 votes or 5.23%. EFF policy chief Floyd Shivambu said it would not “undermine the integrity of its programme” by falling prey to the factional fights which led to COPE’s destruction.
It obtained 30 seats in Parliament and 1.3-million votes in 2009.
ANC head of elections Malusi Gigaba likened the EFF to COPE.
“The EFF has come in a big bang, but they will turn out to be a paper tiger,” he said.
COPE’s performance was dismal, with 91,205 votes or 0,72% nationally after 70% of voting districts had been counted. It was expecting two seats in Parliament, likely to be occupied by its president Mosiuoa Lekota and his deputy Willie Madisha.
COPE spokesman Johan Abrie said the party’ s journey to the election was a “bumpy ride”, with a legal battle for the party presidency finalised only last October, and a national congress to elect new leaders in January. It would now have to do some serious introspection and examine what else went wrong, and “how to regroup”.
Mr Abrie said that while the party was partly to blame for its declining performance, the ANC had been “hellbent” on its destruction.
ANC head of campaigns and organising Nomvula Mokonyane said it was “sad” because many parties were formed on the basis of anger with the ANC, hence they were not likely to survive.
Other small parties are refusing to say “die” after taking a hammering, claiming they are still relevant and represent the views and values of a specific constituencies.
Some with long-standing struggle pedigrees, such as the Pan Africanist Congress and the Azanian People’s Organisation, face being eliminated from Parliament. Others, such as the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), which has been in Parliament since 1994, are contempla ting holding fewer seats.
Independent political analyst Sanusha Naidu said small parties struggle with their messages’ relevance to voters, fundraising and their own internal machinations.
Azapo national deputy president Strike Thokane hoped to retain its single seat in the National Assembly. Mr Thokane and ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said a shortage of funds was a problem.
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