Democratic Alliance
| Democratic Alliance / Democracy Alliansie |
|
|---|---|
| Party leader | vacant |
| Secretary General | vacant |
| Deputy Chairman | Ivan Meyer Refiloe Nt'sekhe Desiree van der Walt |
| founding | June 24, 2000 |
| Headquarters | Cape Town |
| Alignment | liberalism |
| National Assembly |
84/400 |
| National Council of Provinces |
20/90 |
| Provincial Legislature |
89/430 |
| International connections | Liberal International (LI) |
| Website | www.da.org.za |
The Democratic Alliance ( DA for short ; Afrikaans Demokratiese Alliansie ; German for 'Democratic Alliance') is a South African political party and the largest opposition party to the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
development
The party was founded in 2000 as a union of the Democratic Party (DP), the Nuwe Nasionale Party (NNP) and the small Federal Alliance (FA). The merger lasted until the end of 2001, when the NNP and FA left the alliance, while the DP kept the new name. The first party leader was Tony Leon , who was succeeded by Helen Zille on May 6, 2007 , former mayor of Cape Town and since 2009 Prime Minister of the Western Cape Province . She did not stand for re-election as party leader in 2015 and was replaced by Mmusi Maimane .
From May 10, 2015 , the chairman was Mmusi Maimane , who was also the opposition leader in the National Assembly . This was the first time a black man led the party.
The party was able to increase its share of the vote until the 2014 elections and suffered losses for the first time in 2019. In the 2004 election to the National Assembly , it received 12.4% of the vote and in the 2009 election it received 16.7% of the vote. In 2009, the DA was able to achieve an absolute majority for the first time in the Western Cape Province. The Western Cape is also the only one of nine provinces in South Africa that is not governed by the ANC. The Independent Democrats (ID), which held four seats in the National Assembly, became part of the DA in 2014. In the 2014 election, the party's share of the vote increased to 22.2%. With that she was still an opposition leader . In the province of Western Cape she won 59.4% of the vote in the provincial elections held at the same time. In the state-wide local elections in 2016 it reached 27.0% and became the strongest party in three other metropolitan communities besides Cape Town. In the 2019 elections in South Africa , the DA remained the second strongest party with 20.8% of the vote despite slight losses and was able to defend the absolute majority in the parliament of the Western Cape Province . On October 20, 2019, Zille was elected "federal chairman" in a fighting vote. Several executives, including Chairman Mmusi Maimane and Athol Trollip , resigned. Maimane also resigned as opposition leader and was replaced by the Chief Whip of the DA in the National Assembly, John Steenhuisen , on October 27, 2019 .
The DA is a member of the Liberal International .
organization structure
The party is led by a leader . At the national level, in addition to the chairman, the parliamentary leader , the party spokesman, the chairperson of the Federal Council and his three representatives, the chairman of the Federal Finance Committee and the deputy chairman of the Federal Council Members of the party leadership. Together with other national leaders of the DA, they form the " Federal Executive" . The most important body is the “Bundesrat” of the party, which consists of the “federal management” and members of the national, regional and local leadership and to which at least 150 people belong. The party conventions are called "Federal Congresses" (Federal Congress) and are held every two years; he elects the party leadership.
The youth organization is the DA Youth .
Current party leadership
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The current party leadership consists of:
| Leader (party leader) |
vacant |
| Opposition Leader (parliamentary group leader / opposition leader) |
John Steenhuisen |
| Chairperson of the Federal Council (Federal Party Council Chairman) |
Helen Zille |
| Federal Chairperson (Federal Chairman / Secretary General) |
vacant |
| Chairperson of the Federal Finance Committee (Chairman of the Finance Committee / Treasurer) |
Dion George |
| Deputy Chairpersons of Federal Council ( Deputy Chairperson of the Federal Party Council) |
Natasha Mazzone , Thomas Walters |
| Deputy Federal Chairpersons ( Deputy Federal Chairperson ) |
Ivan Meyer , Refiloe Ntsekhe , Michael Waters |
Party leader
| 2000-2007 | Tony Leon (already 1994-2000 chairman of the DP) |
| 2007-2015 | Helen Zille |
| 2015-2019 | Mmusi Maimane |
Election results
| year | choice | Share of votes | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 |
 General election in South Africa 2004
|
12.37% |
50/400 |
| 2009 |
General election in South Africa 2009
|
16.66% |
67/400 |
| 2014 |
General election in South Africa 2014
|
22.20% |
89/400 |
| 2019 |
General election in South Africa 2019
|
20.77% |
84/400 |
Web links
- www.da.org.za (English)
- Dissertation at the Free University of Berlin on the opposition parties in South Africa
Individual evidence
- ^ ANC rules National Assembly, but misses two-thirds . In: Mail & Guardian online , April 25, 2009, accessed on August 3, 2012.
- ↑ Hans Maria Heyn: influence of opposition parties in einparteiendominanten political system in South Africa. FU Berlin , January 20, 2010, SS 70–89 , accessed on January 25, 2010 .
- ↑ Results at africanelections.tripod.com (English), accessed on September 11, 2012
- ↑ 2016 election results (PDF), accessed on August 14, 2016
- ^ Jenna Etheridge: John Steenhuisen chosen as DA parliamentary leader. news24.com of October 27, 2019 (English), accessed on October 28, 2019
- ↑ Constitution 2015 (PDF; 428 kB), accessed on December 2, 2015 (English).
- ^ Democratic Alliance: Our people. da.org.za, accessed October 28, 2019.
- ^ Duncan Guy: Time has come for me to go, says Leon . In: Independent Online of November 27, 2006, accessed on August 2, 2012.