Democratic Alliance (South Africa)

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is a liberal South African political party. The party has been the second-largest in South Africa since its foundation in 2000. The party is broadly centrist, and has also been associated with centre-right policies.

It is a member of Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network. The DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present. The DA has a variety of ideologically liberal tendencies, including neoliberalism, social liberalism, classical liberalism, and conservative liberalism. The party draws its support predominantly from Afrikaans and English speakers, people aged over 35, and white South Africans, as well as the Indian and Coloured communities.

The current leader of the party is John Steenhuisen, who was announced as the new leader on 1 November 2020 after the party's Federal Congress. He had previously acted as the interim leader of the party from November 2019 to November 2020. Helen Zille is chairperson of both the Federal Council and the Federal Executive, the highest decision-making structures of the party.

In aftermath of the 2024 general election, the DA entered into a ruling grand coalition with the African National Congress (ANC) and various other parties, called a government of national unity, formed between ten parties with jointly 287 seats in the National Assembly of South Africa (72%). The DA also governs several major metropolitan municipalities and has governed the Western Cape, one of South Africa's nine provinces, since the 2009 general election.