John Steenhuisen was on Sunday elected party leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s largest opposition party.
Steenhuisen, secured an overwhelming majority with 80 percent of votes to defeat Mbali Ntuli in a historic virtual vote.
Steenhuisen was appointed interim leader last year after the party was thrown into chaos by the sudden resignation of Mmusi Maimane.
Maimane, who had been appointed as leader to broaden the traditionally white liberal party’s appeal to black voters, quit in October last year in a blow to the DA’s attempts to shed its image as a party of white privilege.
Steenhuisen pledged to “fight to give power and opportunities to every law-abiding, honest and hard-working citizen, regardless of their background”.
“We choose our leaders on the basis of their ideas, the content of their character and their potential to lead our party into new territory,” Steenhuisen said.
“Thank you to each and every DA delegate… for the trust you have placed in me,” he added.
Steenhuisen will now lead the DA in the presidential elections in 2024 against the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
The party will hope to improve its fortunes after it registered disappointing results in last year’s national and provincial elections in which it got 20.7 percent of votes, compared to 22.2 percent in the previous election.
The DA, South Africa’s second party, was founded 20 years ago as a merger of three mostly white parties but has positioned itself as a non-racial, liberal party.
