Post-election Google searches: What South Africans wanted to know

We survived the 2019 South African Elections and citizens took to Google with their pressing questions. “Who won the Gauteng Elections” was one of the top search queries.

“How many votes did BLF get?” and “How many votes for a seat?” were just some of the post-polls election-related trending questions on Google over the past 2 days.

Search trends information data is collated by Google based on what South Africans have been searching for. So, here is an overview of the top trending election searches over the past 48 hours.

Post-election Google search queries

Who won the election in South Africa?

The ANC won the election with a majority votes – 57.5% of the registered voters cast their ballots. Just over 10 million votes.

The Democratic Alliance received 20.77% votes (3 621 188) followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters with 10.79% (1 881 521).

How many votes for a seat in parliament?

There are 400 seats in parliament and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) decides how many seats each party gets based on the election results.

The total number of votes are divided by the number of parliamentary seats to generate a quota. Read more about the process here.

How many seats in SA parliament?

The ANC has 230 seats, the DA 84 and the EFF 44. Other parties who secured a seat include the IFP (14), the VF Plus (10) and the ACDP (4.)

In addition, the UDM, ATM, GOOD, NFP, AIC, and COPE has two seats each, followed by the PAC and ALJAMA with a one seat each. Compare the amount of seats to the 2014 elections here.

Who won Gauteng elections 2019?

The ANC held on to Gauteng by a whisker and narrowly won the Gauteng majority. It was a very close battle and the ruling party won by less than a full percentage point. Luke Daniel from The South African wrote:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has also experienced damning losses on both national and provincial ballots. The official opposition would’ve hoped to have snatched Gauteng from under the ANC, through strategic coalition agreements with other minority parties.

Who is the president of South Africa?

The ANC’s Cyril Ramaphosa. Fun fact, Ramaphosa was an acting professor of law at Sanford University in 1991. Read more about his life here.

Also read: President Ramaphosa: ‘The ANC has learnt its lesson’

How many seats does EFF have in parliament?

According to the IEC, the EFF now have 44. That’s 19 seats more than they had in 2014. Strangely enough, the EFF also secured 3.73% of Orania votes.

Compared to the other parties: Freedom Front Plus secured 79.4%, the DA secured 11.01%, Front Nasionaal 2.13% and Congress of the People secured 1.41%.

How many votes did BLF get?

The BLF received 19 796 votes. Furthermore, many parties, including BLF, questioned the fairness of the IEC results.

How many people voted in 2019?

The IEC counted 17 671 616. About 235 472 of those were spoilt. In 2014, 18 654 711 people voted, about 983 155 less than this year.

How often does South Africa have elections?

The national and provincial elections take place every five years. The Municipal elections are held two years after the national elections.