A copy of the atlas of the results for the 2009 national and provincial elections was presented to Mr Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, by Dr Brigalia Bam, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (IEC) at a function in Parliament, Cape Town on Wednesday, 3 November 2010.
The Electoral Commission also presented copies of the atlas to leaders of all political parties represented in Parliament.
“The Electoral Commission of South Africa is proud to present the 2009 elections results atlas, our flagship publication,” said Dr Bam. “The strength of the publication lies in the fact that by adding a spatial component, voluminous elections data is transformed into illustrative and easy-to-understand maps.”
This is the third publication of the atlas of results which contains maps and information on all aspects of a national election. The first results atlas was published in 1999.
The publication makes a comparative analysis of the performance of each political party in each province as well as nationally. The 2009 version of the atlas goes a step further with a comparative analysis as it pertains to the 1999, 2004 and 2009 national and provincial elections.
The atlas of results provides in detail the results of the 2009 national election, which are presented in a geographic (map) format for ease of use. The publication contains various types of analyses, which are presented at different geographic levels, and include: the political party that received the majority of votes for each of the 19,726 voting districts (leading party); the geography of support received by contesting political parties; the performance of political parties relative to their own performance since 1999; and maps showing analyses of the margin of difference between parties and their main competitors (‘lead and lag’ analysis).
In the 2009 elections the IEC made use for the first time of the technology it uses to register voters (portable bar-code scanner units – popularly referred to as zip-zip machines) on voting day to verify whether voters were registered to vote. This data has allowed the IEC to gain important insights into the demography of voters who voted in the 2009 elections.
A closer look at the voting station mapping indicate the geographic locations of all voting stations and closely parallels that of South Africa’s human settlement patterns. The highest densities of voting stations are located in the eastern and coastal regions of the country. A high density of voting stations may indicate higher voter registration activity or areas in which difficult topographic conditions or relief (e.g. mountains, valleys, rivers or sparsely populated areas) necessitate more voting stations to ensure ready access to voters.
“We hope that political parties will find this publication useful and it will further enhance their campaign strategies for the 2011 municipal elections,” said Dr Bam.
Enquiries:
Kate Bapela
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