South Africa's First Democratic Local Elections: The Case of the Western Cape, 1995–96

Abstract

Local government elections in 1995–96 provide new evidence on the patterns and trends of voting behaviour in democratic South Africa. The election results in the Western Cape were widely interpreted in the media as indications of electoral trends, i.e. changes over time in voter support for the different political parties. This paper argues that the evidence concerning trends remains inconclusive. The main information to be gathered from the local election results concerns: first, the detailed electoral geography of the province; secondly, and in light of earlier opinion polls, the complexity of voting behaviour; and, thirdly, some of the factors affecting the performance of parties and candidates in elections for different levels of government.