Knysna Local Municipality elections

The Knysna Local Municipality council consists of twenty-one members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eleven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eleven wards, while the remaining ten are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 no party obtained a majority of seats on the council.

Results

The following table shows the composition of the council after past elections.

Event	ANC	DA	IND	Other
2000 election	6	7	1	2
2004 floor-crossing	7	5	2	2
2006 election	7	5	0	4
2007 floor-crossing	9	5	0	2
2011 election	7	10	1	1
2016 election	7	10	1	3
2021 election	7	8	0	6

December 2000 election

Main article: 2000 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election. ^[1]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	6,361	42.44	4	6,580	43.62	3	7
	African National Congress	5,241	34.97	2	5,476	36.30	4	6
	Knysna Community Forum	1,958	13.06	1	2,737	18.14	1	2
	Independent candidates	1,213	8.09	1				1
	United Democratic Movement	215	1.43	0	293	1.94	0	0
Total		14,988	100.00	8	15,086	100.00	8	16
Valid votes		14,988	98.44		15,086	98.31
Invalid/blank votes		237	1.56		259	1.69
Total votes		15,225	100.00		15,345	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		23,465	64.88		23,465	65.40

By-elections from December 2000 to September 2004

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the election in December 2000 and the floor crossing period in September 2004. ^[2]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
24 July 2002	3		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance

September 2004 floor crossing

See also: Floor crossing (South Africa)

In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, in the period from 1–15 September 2004 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats. In the Knysna council, one councillor crossed from the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the African National Congress, while another councillor left the DA to sit as an independent.

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	6	1	7
	Democratic Alliance	7	2	5
	Knysna Community Forum	2	0	2
	Independent	1	1	2

By-elections from September 2004 to February 2006

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the floor crossing periods in September 2004 and the election in March 2006. ^[2]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
22 September 2004	8		Knysna Community Forum		African National Congress

March 2006 election

Main article: 2006 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election. ^[3]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	6,468	40.01	5	6,447	40.03	2	7
	Democratic Alliance	4,710	29.14	2	4,813	29.88	3	5
	Knysna Community Forum	1,778	11.00	1	1,943	12.06	1	2
	Independent candidates	1,959	12.12	0				0
	Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa				1,663	10.32	1	1
	Independent Democrats	627	3.88	0	651	4.04	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	426	2.64	0	421	2.61	0	0
	United Independent Front	197	1.22	0	169	1.05	0	0
Total		16,165	100.00	8	16,107	100.00	8	16
Valid votes		16,165	98.61		16,107	98.34
Invalid/blank votes		228	1.39		272	1.66
Total votes		16,393	100.00		16,379	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		27,850	58.86		27,850	58.81

September 2007 floor crossing

The final floor-crossing period occurred on 1–15 September 2007; floor-crossing was subsequently abolished in 2008 by the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. In the Knysna council, the two councillors of the Knysna Community Forum crossed to the African National Congress, and the single councillor of the Independent Civic Organisation crossed to the National People's Party. ^[4]

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	7	2	9
	Democratic Alliance	5	0	5
	Independent Democrats	1	0	1
	National People's Party	—	1	1
	Knysna Community Forum	2	2	0
	Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa	1	1	0

May 2011 election

Main article: 2011 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election. ^[5]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	11,736	49.54	5	11,844	51.56	5	10
	African National Congress	8,764	36.99	4	9,111	39.66	3	7
	Congress of the People	1,601	6.76	0	1,596	6.95	1	1
	Independent candidates	1,132	4.78	1				1
	African Christian Democratic Party	353	1.49	0	360	1.57	0	0
	Cape Party	104	0.44	0	61	0.27	0	0
Total		23,690	100.00	10	22,972	100.00	9	19
Valid votes		23,690	98.93		22,972	96.92
Invalid/blank votes		257	1.07		730	3.08
Total votes		23,947	100.00		23,702	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		36,332	65.91		36,332	65.24

By-elections from May 2011 to August 2016

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in May 2011 and August 2016. ^[2]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
2 July 2014	5		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
22 July 2015	9		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
	10		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance

August 2016 election

Main article: 2016 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election. ^[6]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	12,098	48.11	6	12,489	51.15	4	10
	African National Congress	7,777	30.93	3	8,153	33.39	4	7
	Congress of the People	1,430	5.69	1	1,402	5.74	0	1
	Independent candidates	1,462	5.81	1				1
	Knysna Unity Congress	535	2.13	0	503	2.06	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	462	1.84	0	436	1.79	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	427	1.70	0	420	1.72	0	0
	Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa	350	1.39	0	350	1.43	0	0
	African Independent Congress	164	0.65	0	336	1.38	0	0
	Freedom Front Plus	209	0.83	0	175	0.72	0	0
	Ubuntu Party	111	0.44	0	52	0.21	0	0
	South African Religious Civic Organisation	36	0.14	0	36	0.15	0	0
	Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners	25	0.10	0	44	0.18	0	0
	Democratic New Civic Association	49	0.19	0				0
	South Africa Civics	12	0.05	0	22	0.09	0	0
Total		25,147	100.00	11	24,418	100.00	10	21
Valid votes		25,147	98.87		24,418	96.50
Invalid/blank votes		287	1.13		886	3.50
Total votes		25,434	100.00		25,304	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		40,014	63.56		40,014	63.24

By-elections from August 2016 to November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in August 2016 and November 2021. ^[2]

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
24 October 2018	8		African National Congress		African National Congress
13 February 2019	4		Independent		African National Congress
21 August 2019	5		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
4 December 2019	11		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
11 November 2020 [Note 1]	9		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
	10		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
21 April 2021	11		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress

November 2021 election

Main article: 2021 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election. ^[7]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	8,176	34.73	5	8,421	36.15	3	8
	African National Congress	7,660	32.54	6	7,889	33.87	1	7
	Knysna Independent Movement	1,901	8.07	0	1,797	7.71	2	2
	Patriotic Alliance	1,725	7.33	0	1,729	7.42	2	2
	Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners	1,109	4.71	0	1,052	4.52	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	558	2.37	0	610	2.62	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	542	2.30	0	451	1.94	0	0
	Good	414	1.76	0	393	1.69	0	0
	Independent candidates	573	2.43	0				0
	African Christian Democratic Party	208	0.88	0	188	0.81	0	0
	Knysna Unity Congress	160	0.68	0	185	0.79	0	0
	Cape Independence Party	155	0.66	0	154	0.66	0	0
	Active United Front	95	0.40	0	146	0.63	0	0
	United Independent Movement	70	0.30	0	54	0.23	0	0
	Congress of the People	62	0.26	0	57	0.24	0	0
	The Organic Humanity Movement	28	0.12	0	47	0.20	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	26	0.11	0	39	0.17	0	0
	Africa Restoration Alliance	25	0.11	0	28	0.12	0	0
	Dagga Party	16	0.07	0	28	0.12	0	0
	Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa	11	0.05	0	27	0.12	0	0
	Knysna Social Democratic Party	28	0.12	0				0
Total		23,542	100.00	11	23,295	100.00	10	21
Valid votes		23,542	98.49		23,295	98.07
Invalid/blank votes		361	1.51		458	1.93
Total votes		23,903	100.00		23,753	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		42,790	55.86		42,790	55.51

Notes

1. By-election was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — George". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
2. "Municipal By-elections results". Electoral Commission of South Africa. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
3. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — George". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
4. "2007 Floor Crossing - Summary report" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
5. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Knysna". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
6. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — George". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
7. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — George". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 14 November 2021.