By Johnathan Paoli
In the first by-elections of 2026, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) scored two decisive victories against the Democratic Alliance (DA) in George, while the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) mounted a serious challenge to the DA in a traditionally safe suburban ward in Tshwane.
While the DA retained its Tshwane seat, the results exposed new vulnerabilities, particularly in suburban and peri-urban areas, and highlighted the PA’s growing ability to consolidate disaffected voters in the Western Cape.
In Tshwane’s Ward 57 (Lyttleton Centurion), the DA held onto the seat with 53% of the vote, down from its previous 59%.
The FF+ surged to 44%, almost tripling its earlier support of 16%, while the ANC collapsed to just 2%. Voter turnout dropped to 21%, compared with 50% at the last
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