2019 Free State provincial election

The 2019 Free State provincial election was held on 8 May 2019, concurrently with the 2019 South African general election, to elect the 30 members of the Free State Provincial Legislature.

2019 Free State provincial election

← 2014 8 May 2019 2024 →
All 30 seats to the Free State Provincial Legislature 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Candidate Sisi Ntombela Patricia Kopane Party ANC DA Last election 69.85% 16.23% Seats before 22 5 Seats won 19 6 Seat change 3 1 Popular vote 541,535 155,694 Percentage 61.14% 17.58% Swing 8.71% 1.35%   Third party Fourth party   Candidate Mandisa Makesini Jan van Niekerk Party EFF VF+ Last election 8.15% 2.10% Seats before 2 1 Seats won 4 1 Seat change 2 0 Popular vote 111,427 35,031 Percentage 12.58% 3.96% Swing 4.43% 1.86%
Premier before election Sisi Ntombela African National Congress Elected Premier Sisi Ntombela African National Congress

The election was won by the African National Congress, the incumbent governing party in the province.

Premier candidates

The African National Congress (ANC) did not announce a premier candidate before the election. Provincial chairperson Sam Mashinini was first on the ANC's list with incumbent premier Sisi Ntombela third on the list.^[1] After the election, Ntombela was announced as the party's premier candidate and she was elected for another term at the first sitting of the legislature after the election.^[2]

The Democratic Alliance (DA) chose Patricia Kopane, a two-term Member of Parliament and its leader in the Free State.^[3] She defeated Coreen Malherbe for the position.^[4]

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) did not field a premier candidate, since the party seeks to abolish provincial governments.^[5] Mandisa Makesini appeared first on the party's list.^[6]

The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) selected their incumbent provincial leader and former member of the provincial legislature, Jan van Niekerk.^[7]

Results

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	African National Congress	541,535	61.14	–8.71	19	–3
	Democratic Alliance	155,694	17.58	+1.35	6	+1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	111,427	12.58	+4.43	4	+2
	Freedom Front Plus	35,031	3.96	+1.86	1	0
	African Transformation Movement	6,897	0.78	New	0	New
	Patriotic Alliance	4,950	0.56	+0.50	0	0
	Congress of the People	3,972	0.45	–1.18	0	0
	African Independent Congress	3,960	0.45	New	0	New
	African Christian Democratic Party	3,697	0.42	–0.09	0	0
	African Democratic Change	3,346	0.38	New	0	New
	African Content Movement	1,885	0.21	New	0	New
	Afrikan Alliance of Social Democrats	1,646	0.19	New	0	New
	Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party	1,567	0.18	New	0	New
	Pan Africanist Congress	1,513	0.17	–0.04	0	0
	Agang South Africa	1,338	0.15	–0.05	0	0
	African People's Convention	1,309	0.15	–0.17	0	0
	Azanian People's Organisation	833	0.09	–0.07	0	0
	United Democratic Movement	826	0.09	–0.12	0	0
	Good	709	0.08	New	0	New
	Inkatha Freedom Party	705	0.08	–0.03	0	0
	Power of Africans Unity	533	0.06	New	0	New
	African Congress of Democrats	505	0.06	New	0	New
	Women Forward	408	0.05	New	0	New
	African Covenant	365	0.04	New	0	New
	Alliance for Transformation for All	361	0.04	New	0	New
	National Freedom Party	288	0.03	–0.08	0	0
	South African Concerned Residents Organisation 4 Service Delivery	253	0.03	New	0	New
	South African National Congress of Traditional Authorities	124	0.01	New	0	New
Total		885,677	100.00	–	30	0
Valid votes		885,677	98.72
Invalid/blank votes		11,508	1.28
Total votes		897,185	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,462,508	61.35
Source: Election Resources

Aftermath

During the first sitting of the provincial legislature on 22 May 2019, Sisi Ntombela was re-elected as premier, while Zanele Sifuba was elected speaker, and Vusi Tshabalala was appointed chief whip.^[8]