Two by-elections were held in Saldanha Bay yesterday, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) defending both seats fairly easily, which will give the party some succour heading into the next local government elections (LGE), likely to be held before the end of the year.

The first by-election was in Ward 5 (Town and Jacobsbaai). The DA won nearly 90% of the vote, with the only challenge coming from the Patriotic Alliance (PA), with 8% of the vote.

In the 2021 LGE in the ward, the DA had also faced little resistance, winning 77%. The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) had been the primary challenger in 2021, winning 9%, but the party chose to not field a candidate in the by-election. In 2021 the PA had won only 2% of the vote, so this is something of an improvement for the party, although none of the DA’s other rivals, such as the African National Congress (ANC), stood candidates in the by-election, meaning much of the anti-DA vote would have coalesced around the PA’s candidate.

Turnout also declined, as is normal for by-elections, with 37% of registered voters coming out to vote, against the 55% that cast a ballot in 2021.

The other by-election, Ward 6 (Langebaan), also saw the DA hold the seat without breaking too much of a sweat. Here the DA won 75% of the vote, against the 77% it won in the 2021 LGE.

The primary challenger this time was the FF+, which won 28%, compared to the 19% it won in 2021.

Turnout was also low in this by-election, falling from 59% in 2021 to 39% yesterday.

The DA will be pleased with its day out, but one should not read too much into this by-election – the DA won two safe seats, which it was expected to win. However, a noteworthy point is that the ANC failed to stand candidates in either ward. While the ANC did poorly in the two wards in the 2021 LGE, the party has stood candidates in almost every one of the more than 300 by-elections held since the 2021 LGE, even in wards where it stood no chance of winning. The fact that the party has failed to stand candidates in these two wards could raise questions about the resources at its disposal ahead of the next LGE.