Democratic Alliance Demokratiese Alliansie | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | DA |
Federal Leader | John Steenhuisen |
Federal Chairperson | Ivan Meyer |
Deputy Federal Chairpersons | JP Smith Solly Malatsi Anton Bredell |
Federal Council Chairperson | Helen Zille[1] |
Deputy Federal Council Chairpersons | Ashor Sarupen Annelie Lotriet Thomas Walters |
Founded | 24 June 2000 |
Preceded by | Democratic Party |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre[5][6] |
National affiliation | Multi-Party Charter |
International affiliation | Liberal International |
Continental affiliation | Africa Liberal Network |
Colours | Blue |
Slogan | "Freedom, Fairness, Opportunity and Diversity" |
National Assembly | 84 / 400 |
NCOP | 20 / 90 |
Pan African Parliament | 1 / 5 |
SADC Parliamentary Forum | 1 / 6 |
Provincial Legislatures | 89 / 430 |
Cape Town City Council | 135 / 231 |
Website | |
www | |
The Democratic Alliance (DA; Afrikaans: Demokratiese Alliansie) is a South African political party and the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The party is broadly centrist, and has been attributed both centre-left[7] and centre-right[8] policies. It is a member of Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network. The DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present. The DA ideologically shows a variety of liberal tendencies, including social liberalism,[9] classical liberalism,[9] and conservative liberalism.[10]
The current leader of the party is John Steenhuisen, who was announced as the new leader on 1 November 2020 after the party's Federal Congress. He had previously acted as the interim leader of the party from November 2019 to November 2020.[11] Helen Zille is chairperson of both the Federal Council and the Federal Executive, the highest decision-making structures of the party.[12] In addition to governing several major metropolitan municipalities, the DA has been governing the Western Cape, one of South Africa's nine provinces, since the 2009 general election, having won a bigger majority at the election in 2014, but slightly losing support in the 2019 election. As of 2014, the party draws its support predominantly from Afrikaans- and English-speaking people (>80% of its voters), people aged over 35 (>65%), and white people (>50%), as well as the Indian and Coloured communities.[13]
As a political force the Afrikaans community in the 2019 general election principally supported two political parties at a national level, the centrist Democratic Alliance and the conservative Freedom Front Plus (Saba 2019).
Zille...is seen as representing a conservative-liberal grouping within the DA.