COPE still hoping for seats in National Assembly as vote results lay bare dwindling support

JOHANNESBURG – The Congress of the People (COPE) is hoping to retain its two seats in the National Assembly as the vote counting process continues on Friday morning.

The party has seen a continuous decline in electoral support since it contested its first-ever election in 2009.

In its entire existence, COPE has been marred by factional disputes, which have seen the exodus of several of its members.

As of 11PM on Thursday night, the COPE party received a little over 5,000 votes, with 40% of voting districts having been counted at the time.

This is just a drop in the ocean compared to the 1.3 million votes it received when it contested its first election in 2009.

Reflecting on the party’s performance thus far, COPE’s Teboho Loate says the organisation was unable to lead a full campaign due to financial challenges.

"As COPE, we don’t have any external funding from any other people; we rely mostly on institutions like the IEC [Electoral Commission of South Africa]."

In 2014 and 2019, the COPE party got less than 1% of the vote.