Cederberg Local Municipality elections

The Cederberg Local Municipality consists of eleven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Six councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in six wards, while the remaining five 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 won a majority, with the African National Congress the largest party with four seats.

Results

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

Event	ANC	DA	Other	Total
2000 election	6	5	1	12
2002 floor-crossing	6	4	2	12
2006 election	6	4	2	12
2008 by-elections	2	7	3	12
2011 election	5	4	2	11
2016 election	4	6	1	11
2018-19 by-elections	6	4	1	11
2021 election	4	2	5	11

December 2000 election

Main article: 2000 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2000 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	4,793	47.90	3	4,789	47.93	3	6
	Democratic Alliance	4,450	44.47	3	4,531	45.35	2	5
	United Democratic Movement	707	7.07	0	671	6.72	1	1
	Independent candidates	57	0.57	0				0
Total		10,007	100.00	6	9,991	100.00	6	12
Valid votes		10,007	98.42		9,991	98.26
Invalid/blank votes		161	1.58		177	1.74
Total votes		10,168	100.00		10,168	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		14,919	68.15		14,919	68.15

By-elections from December 2000 to October 2002

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 October 2002.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
24 July 2002	6		African National Congress		African National Congress

October 2002 floor crossing

See also: Floor crossing (South Africa)

In terms of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and the judgment of the Constitutional Court in United Democratic Movement v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, in the period from 8–22 October 2002 councillors had the opportunity to cross the floor to a different political party without losing their seats. In the Cederberg council the Democratic Alliance (DA) lost two councillors to the New National Party (NNP), which had formerly been part of the DA. The single councillor from the United Democratic Movement crossed to the DA.

Party		Seats before	Net change	Seats after
	African National Congress	6	0	6
	Democratic Alliance	5	1	4
	New National Party	–	2	2
	United Democratic Movement	1	1	0

March 2006 election

Main article: 2006 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2006 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	4,514	46.44	5	4,536	46.59	1	6
	Democratic Alliance	3,633	37.38	1	3,675	37.74	3	4
	Independent Democrats	1,564	16.09	0	1,526	15.67	2	2
	United Independent Front	9	0.09	0				0
Total		9,720	100.00	6	9,737	100.00	6	12
Valid votes		9,720	98.42		9,737	98.37
Invalid/blank votes		156	1.58		161	1.63
Total votes		9,876	100.00		9,898	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		18,051	54.71		18,051	54.83

By-elections from March 2006 to May 2011

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period between the elections in March 2006 and May 2011.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
10 December 2008	2		African National Congress		Democratic Alliance
	3		African National Congress		Independent Democrats
	4		African National Congress		Democratic Alliance
	5		African National Congress		Democratic Alliance

May 2011 election

Main article: 2011 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2011 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	5,641	43.67	4	5,869	46.39	1	5
	Democratic Alliance	4,801	37.17	2	4,879	38.56	2	4
	Congress of the People	1,232	9.54	0	1,204	9.52	1	1
	Pan Africanist Congress of Azania	674	5.22	0	635	5.02	1	1
	Independent candidates	510	3.95	0				0
	The Peoples Independent Civic Organisation	60	0.46	0	65	0.51	0	0
Total		12,918	100.00	6	12,652	100.00	5	11
Valid votes		12,918	98.99		12,652	97.04
Invalid/blank votes		132	1.01		386	2.96
Total votes		13,050	100.00		13,038	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		21,058	61.97		21,058	61.91

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.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
7 September 2011	6		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress
9 November 2011	4		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance

August 2016 election

Main article: 2016 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2016 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Alliance	8,440	55.06	6	8,455	55.36	0	6
	African National Congress	5,507	35.93	0	5,483	35.90	4	4
	Alliance of Democratic Congress	912	5.95	0	867	5.68	1	1
	Alliance for Democratic Freedom	221	1.44	0	225	1.47	0	0
	Economic Freedom Fighters	123	0.80	0	135	0.88	0	0
	Coloured Voice	52	0.34	0	56	0.37	0	0
	Democratic New Civic Association	27	0.18	0	32	0.21	0	0
	South African Progressive Civic Organisation	38	0.25	0				0
	The Peoples Independent Civic Organisation	3	0.02	0	20	0.13	0	0
	Independent candidates	6	0.04	0				0
Total		15,329	100.00	6	15,273	100.00	5	11
Valid votes		15,329	98.99		15,273	98.66
Invalid/blank votes		157	1.01		207	1.34
Total votes		15,486	100.00		15,480	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		24,931	62.12		24,931	62.09

The DA subsequently lost two seats to the African National Congress (ANC) in by-elections held on 12 December 2018, and 18 September 2019.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
12 December 2018	4		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress
18 September 2019	3		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress

The council was reconfigured as seen below:

Party		Seats
		Ward	List	Total
	Democratic Alliance	4	0	4
	African National Congress	2	4	6
	Alliance of Democratic Congress	0	1	1
Total		6	5	11

On 26 June 2019, DA councillor Bertie Zass voted with the ANC to remove the DA-ADC coalition from power. The elected Executive Mayor was Sylvia Quinta with Mariaan Nell as the Deputy Executive Mayor. The appointed Speaker was Paul Strauss. They were all party members of the African National Congress. The ward Zass previously held automatically became vacant, because of his party defection.

On 22 July 2019, the Western Cape High Court ruled that the elections of the ANC councillors to senior municipal positions were unlawful. The court ordered the reinstatement of DA Mayor William Farmer and ADC Deputy Mayor Francina Sokuyeka. However, in the by-election held on 18 September 2019, the ANC won the vacant ward from the DA, giving the ANC a majority in the council.

November 2021 election

Main article: 2021 South African municipal elections

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	5,228	35.27	4	5,267	35.63	0	4
	Cederberg First Residents Association	4,138	27.92	1	4,003	27.08	2	3
	Democratic Alliance	3,022	20.39	1	3,113	21.06	1	2
	Patriotic Alliance	1,161	7.83	0	1,137	7.69	1	1
	Freedom Front Plus	475	3.20	0	459	3.11	1	1
	African Christian Democratic Party	179	1.21	0	178	1.20	0	0
	Economic Freedom Fighters	169	1.14	0	169	1.14	0	0
	Good	130	0.88	0	166	1.12	0	0
	Africa Restoration Alliance	91	0.61	0	103	0.70	0	0
	Democratic Independent Party	95	0.64	0	94	0.64	0	0
	Democratic New Civic Association	59	0.40	0	69	0.47	0	0
	Independent candidates	60	0.40	0				0
	The Organic Humanity Movement	14	0.09	0	24	0.16	0	0
Total		14,821	100.00	6	14,782	100.00	5	11
Valid votes		14,821	99.46		14,782	99.24
Invalid/blank votes		80	0.54		113	0.76
Total votes		14,901	100.00		14,895	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		27,147	54.89		27,147	54.87

By-elections from November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since the election in November 2021.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
13 October 2022	5		Democratic Alliance		Democratic Alliance
15 February 2023	6		Cederberg First Residents Association		Cederberg First Residents Association
24 Apr 2024	3		African National Congress		Cederberg First Residents Association

After the 2021 election, Cederberg First (or Cederberg Eerste, CE) (3), the DA (2) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) (1) formed a coalition. A motion of no-confidence in CE mayor Ruben Richards, after he was accused of corruption, was later passed with the support of one DA councillor, the speaker William Farmer. Farmer was then elected mayor with the support of the ANC and PA. Farmer was subsequently expelled from the DA, and joined the Patriotic Alliance (PA), standing as their candidate during the by-election. The new DA candidate increased the party's share of the vote, retaining the seat for the DA, and restoring the previous CE, DA and FF+ coalition government.