Pretoria - The Electoral Commission has handed over the 2014 National and Provincial Elections Atlas of Results to Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and representatives of all political parties that are represented in Parliament and/or respective leaders.
This is the fourth edition of the Geographical Information System (GIS) Atlas of Results, first published after the 1999 National and Provincial Elections.
The atlas was handed over on Tuesday, said the commission in a statement.
“The Atlas of Results provides a comprehensive graphic compendium of statistics and information related to the National and Provincial Elections of 2014, but also contains comparative statistics of previous elections.
“It is a unique publication in the electoral domain worldwide, the strength of which lies in the fact that in-depth and detailed information relating to election results is presented using maps and other graphics to make the information highly visible and easy-to-understand,” said the commission.
The Atlas of Results is a fundamental part of the work of the Electoral Commission in strengthening constitutional democracy.
“It provides all political parties and interested stakeholders with the same substantive information, which many would otherwise not have had the resources to compile.
“The Atlas of Results enables respective political parties to analyse their electoral performance and to determine their future electoral campaign strategies.
“It also provides the media with trend analysis and is an authoritative source for political analysts, political scientists and students alike,” said the commission.
Even though it reflects voting patterns of the national and provincial elections rather than municipal elections, the commission said the publication is an important tool for usage by political parties in the forthcoming 2016 Municipal Elections.
It said the Atlas of Results comprises detailed electoral data on the themes as:
- voting district delimitation which looks at the voting districts for the 2014 elections and how these have changed over the years;
- voter registration statistics for the 2014 elections including voter registration activity and density per municipality;
- demographic analysis of the voters’ roll, which is analysed by age and gender per province and municipality;
- election results at a national and provincial level, including voter turnout and spoilt votes;
- political party results (including leading party, party support, lead/lag analysis and party support variance)
- voter participation by age, gender and voting time.
The commission said the Atlas of Results has already received international recognition for its contribution to transparency and accessibility.
“At a ceremony held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on 14 November 2015, the Atlas was awarded the International Electoral Award for Accessibility in an event hosted by the Mexican Electoral Commission and the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies,” said the commission.
Electronic copies of the Atlas of Results are available on www.elections.org.za. – SAnews.gov.za
