Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a liberal party South African political party, and the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress.
History of the Democratic Alliance and its predecessors
The Democratic Alliance roots back to the Progressive Party, founded in 1959 when liberal members seceded from the United Party. They couldn't agree with the inability of the UP to present an alternative to the National Party's apartheid policy. The PP emphasised constitutional reform, a Bill of Rights, an independent judiciary and the evolution towards federalism. This reforms were combined with a free market economy. In 1961 only Helen Suzman was elected in parliament. For 13 years she was the only opponent of racial discrimination and other apartheid regime's abuses in the whites-only parliament, fighting agains detention without trial, pass laws, influx control etc. Since 1971 Colin Eglin was the party leader, without being a member of parliament himself. In 1974 the party wons 7 seats.
In 1975 the party merged with the Reform Party, a breakaway party of the United Party into the Progressive Reform Party. Two years later dissident UP members formed the Committee for a United Opposition, that joined the PRP to form the Progressive Federal Party. The PFP drew support mainly from liberal English-speaking white South Africans, as owing to South Africa's apartheid laws, its membership was limited to the country's whites. The PFP was derided by right-wing whites, who claimed its initials stood for 'Packing for Perth', on account of the many white liberal supporters of the 'Progs', who were emigrating to Australia.
Frederick van Zyl Slabbert, PFP leader since 1979, resigned in 1986 from parliament because it had, in his view, become irrelevant. Later he forms the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (IDASA). He is succeeded by Colin Eglin. The PFP was ousted as the official opposition by the far-right Conservative Party in the whites-only parliamentary elections held on May 6 1987. This electoral blow led many of the PFP's leaders to question the value of participating in the whites-only parliament, and some of its MPs left to join the National Democratic Movement In 1987 shortly before the elections also the Independent Party of Denis Worral was formed.
After the elections of 1988 the new PFP leader Zach de Beer concluded negotiations with the IP and the NDM to merge into the Democratic Party in 1989. It won 36 seats in the 1989 elections. The DP played a vital role in the negotiation of an interim constitution which includes most of the original progressive principles and ideals. In the first post-Apartheid election the party won only 1,7% of the vote and 10 seats in parliament. De Beer was succeeded by Tony Leon, who emphasised the protection of human rights, federalism and free enterprise. The party became the official opposition in 1999, when it improved its share of the vote to 9,6% of the votes and 44 seats.
The DP merged with the New National Party (NNP) in 2000 to form the Democratic Alliance (DA). The much smaller Federal Alliance later merged with the DA.
The DA then formed the government of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Following the elections of 2000 the DA polled 52.3% of the vote in Cape Town, sufficient to form the municipal government of the city. The DA also formed the government of several other towns in the Western Cape.
The involvement of the NNP lasted only until 2001, when the NNP left the alliance to form a new alliance with the African National Congress. With the departure of some NNP Members of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature, and of some NNP councillors, the DA lost its hold on most of the governments of the Western Cape.
The Democratic Alliance won 12.4% of the votes and 50 seats at the 14 april 2004 elections, and remains the second largest political party in South Africa.
