SOUTH AFRICA'S FINAL ELECTION RESULTS

17 April 2004

The South African election ended officially on Saturday when the Electoral Commission (IEC) declared the polls free and fair, with the African National Congress (ANC) having won 279 seats in the national parliament.

IEC chairperson, Dr Brigalia Bam, told party leaders and election observers at a final results announcement function that the Democratic Alliance (DA) came second with 50 seats, followed by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) with 28; United Democratic Movement (UDM); 9, Independent Democrats (ID); 7, New National Party (NNP) 7; African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) 6; Freedom Front Plus (VF+) 4; United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) 3; Pan African Congress (PAC) 3; Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO); 2 and Minority Front (MF) 2.

"The electoral Commission has successfully delivered the 2004 elections in keeping with our mandate in terms of the Constitution," Bam told guests and party leaders, including President Thabo Mbeki.

"This is reflective of the political maturity among all South Africans. An election presents an excellent opportunity to make an assessment of such a maturity," she said.

"In the run-up to these elections, we saw robust competition among political parties during campaigning. This time, the campaigns waged were issues-driven and the parties were no longer relying on the roles they played in the past during anti-apartheid struggle years. In other words, these were not liberation elections as was the case in 1994.

"South Africans, the extraordinary people that we are, have in a short space of time made great strides in political maturity. This was manifested during voting and counting. All our people exercised patience and respect for the voting process. Leadership shown by political party representatives equally did not undermine the process," she added.

Pansy Tlakula, the Chief Electoral Officer of the IEC, said: "I stand before you today to declare humbly with pride that we have achieved the objectives that we set for ourselves. The third democratic national elections of the Republic of South Africa has come and gone without major glitches."

"Although we are a developing nation, we have come of age as far as election management is concerned. The advancement in technology in our country coupled with the level of skill in the organization has improved our efficiency considerably. Whereas in 1999 we announced the results on the sixth day after the elections, this time around we captured, audited and are announcing results three days after the elections," she added.

The provincial results were declared as follows:

Eastern Cape: 
ANC 51
UDM 6
DA 5
PAC 1
Total: 63

Free State: 
ANC 25 
DA 3
ACDP 1
VF+ 1
Total: 30

Gauteng: 
ANC 51
DA 15
IFP 2
UDM 1
VF+ 1
ACDP 1
ID 1
PAC 1
Total: 73

KwaZulu-Natal: 
ANC 38
IFP 30
DA 7
ACDP 2
MF 2
UDM 1
Total: 80

Limpopo: 
ANC 45
DA 2
UDM 1
ACDP 1
Total: 49

Mpumalanga: 
ANC 27
DA 2
VF+ 1
Total: 30

North West: 
ANC 27
UCDP 3
DA 2
VF+ 1
Total: 33

Northern Cape: 
ANC 21
DA 3
ID 2
NNP 2
VF+ 1
ACDP 1
Total: 30

Western Cape: 
ANC 19
DA 12
NNP 5
ID 3
ACDP 2
UDM 1
Total: 42

"These elections marked a peaceful passage of South Africa's 10 years of democracy and a giant leap into the next decade," said Tlakula.

Enquiries: 
Rich Mkhondo
Cell: 083 414 3720
South African Print Media and International Media (Print And Broadcast)

Lydia Young
Cell: 082 650 8652
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Cell: 082 770 9825
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Issued by: Electoral Commission
17 April 2004

Source: Electorial Commission (http://www.elections.org.za)

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