JUST IN: John Steenhuisen retains his position as DA leader

John Steenhuisen has retained his position as the Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Leader when he defeated former City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse.

The Democratic Alliance held its elective congress at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Gauteng this weekend.

JOHN STEENHUISEN ELECTED DA LEADER

The DA said the congress is important for South Africa because the leaders elected may very well be the leaders who will reshape national government as the ruling party’s support again drops below 50% in 2024.

“The size of the event speaks to the tremendous growth of the DA over the years. The party has exponentially grown, since 2015 where we had just over 1200 delegates,” Chief Presiding Officer, Greg Krumbock said.

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It is not yet clear how many votes Steenhuisen received in order to emerge as the winner.

OPPOSITION POSITIVE ANC WILL GET BELOW 40% VOTES

Speaking to the media before the congress started, Phalatse took it a step further and said the ANC “will go below 40% in the next election.”

With the country gripped by a number of challenges, including the ongoing load shedding crisis, the opposition party has repeatedly said that it is within striking distance of the governing party, citing a number of internal and external polls.

The DA has never won more than 25% of the total vote – peaking at 24.57% in the 2016 local government elections. The last national elections in 2019 saw the Blue Party receive  20.77% of the vote.

For comparison, when the ANC was at its lowest in the 2021 local government elections – at 45.59% – the DA also lost support and took 21.62% of the vote.

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