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The Electoral Commission today handed over the 2014 National and Provincial Elections Atlas of Results to the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as the various key stakeholders including the respective Honourable Leaders and or representatives of all political parties that are represented in Parliament.

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 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.

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.

Even though it reflects voting patterns of the national and provincial elections rather than municipal elections, the publication is an important tool for usage by political parties in the forthcoming 2016 Municipal Elections.

The Atlas of Results comprises detailed electoral data on the following themes:

•     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.

Of particular interest, the Party Support map is done per party and each of the voting districts coloured with the percentage support that each party obtained, ranging from lower percentages in grey, through green, blue and purple towards higher percentages.

The Lead or Lag Analysis indicates the winning margin percentage over the second party (lead) or the percentage behind the winning party (lag) for a particular party.

A recent addition to the Atlas of Results publication is the Party Support Variance. In this theme, a party's performance is measured against its own previous election performance and shows areas of gain or loss in percentage support across the various municipalities.

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.

Electronic copies of the Atlas of Results are available for download on the Electoral Commission website at www.elections.org.za

Issued by Independent Electoral Commission