During August and September of this year, research group Afrobarometer, led by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and Plus 94 Research, interviewed 1 800 adult South Africans.

Their question was a simple one: if national elections were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

Afrobarometer claims that “a sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level”, so it might be a useful indicator of what lies ahead in next year’s general elections.

BusinessTech has the results:

…almost half (48%) of South Africans say that if elections were held tomorrow, they would vote for the ANC. The DA and EFF would tie for second place with 11% each.

All other parties would combine for 4% of votes, while more than a quarter (27%) of South Africans say they don’t know who they would vote for, they would not vote, or they refused to answer the question.

You like graphs? We got graphs:

The survey has been run since 2006, which makes for an interesting look at how party popularity has fluctuated:

After showing sustained growth for the best part of a decade, the DA has sure taken a knock. The Day Zero fiasco won’t have helped, and neither will the ongoing battle between party leaders and Patricia de Lille, which has turned into an ugly affair that exposes a deeply divided party.

I mean really, Zuma handed the DA things on a plate and they went and shot themselves in the foot.

Here’s something that’s pretty damn worrying – a majority of South Africans said they would be open to giving up elections in return for good service delivery by the government:

More than six in 10 (62%) say they would be “willing” or “very willing” to forgo elections if a non-elected government or leader were able to impose law and order and provide housing and jobs.

This finding may suggest the depth of South Africans’ dissatisfaction with the government’s performance.

The government has failed us, so let’s take away the one way the general public can hold them accountable. What could possibly go wrong?

Our national elections must be held by August 4 of next year.

[source:bustech]