inside politics

Election 2026/7 Resource: Heat Map | NMB | Turnout

Explanation:

These are a set of what is commonly referred to as “Heat Maps”. The more technical name is Choropleth Maps. They are designed to use a colour scale, to demonstrate the intensity of one particular indicator – in this case: turnout per ward: the darker the colour in a ward, the higher the turnout. 

These are very difficult to build, for many reasons I won’t bore you with, but one of them is that ward boundaries change every election cycle (an election cycle is one local election, and one national election). So, although they look more or less the same, there is one map for 2011 and 2014, one for 2016 and 2019 and one for 2021 and 2024, and you may notice some subtle changes between those data sets.

Regardless, they are incredibly helpful for identifying:

• Turnout strongholds
• Turnout weaknesses
• Changes in turnout over time and between national and local elections (see time-lapse video at end)

Above each map, in a table at the top, is all the core statistical information relevant to that map.

Heat Map: Nelson Mandela Bay | 2011 | Turnout by Ward

Heat Map: Nelson Mandela Bay | 2014 | Turnout by Ward

Heat Map: Nelson Mandela Bay | 2016 | Turnout by Ward

Heat Map: Nelson Mandela Bay | 2019 | Turnout by Ward

Heat Map: Nelson Mandela Bay | 2021 | Turnout by Ward

Heat Map: Nelson Mandela Bay | 2024 | Turnout by Ward

Timelapse [2011-2024]