While the African National Congress (ANC) and GOOD in the Western Cape are still getting their political house in order, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has already thrown its weight behind Premier Alan Winde to stay in his post. 

In the run-up to next year's general elections, the DA has been putting their candidates through a gruelling examination and interviewing process to pick the cream of the crop and has already backed Winde for the premiership.

The African National Congress (ANC), which usually shies away from announcing their preferred candidate until the very last minute, is in the process of selecting its premier candidate.

ANC spokesperson, Khalid Sayed, said as per the ANC's national guidelines, they are in the process of nominating public representatives to serve in the National Assembly and the Western Cape legislature. 

"We are doing this in our branches; once that nomination process is concluded, we will finalise the list at provincial level as well as national level. 

Sayed said, "Only after that, as per the guidelines, we as a province will then deliberate on three possible candidates for the premiership."

He added that once the three candidates have been chosen, they will be presented to the party's national structures. 

"The national leadership will decide on one of the three that will be the face of our provincial elections campaign for the Western Cape," he said. 

The party held its ninth elective conference in the Western Cape in June. 

The newly elected leadership brought an end to the interim provincial committee, which had led the party for nearly four years.

Vuyiso JJ Tyhalisisu was elected chairperson, Neville Delport provincial secretary, Sharon Davids deputy chairperson, Ayanda Bans deputy secretary, and Derek Appel stood unopposed for the position of treasurer.

In the 2009 general elections, the ANC lost the Western Cape to the DA - and has been on a downward spiral ever since. The ANC won 31% of the vote in 2009 and fell to 28% in the 2019 elections.

For the ANC, the stakes are higher this time around as the party is facing mounting challenges at a national level with many saying it has become politically irrelevant in the Western Cape. 

According to a survey conducted by the Social Research Foundation (SRF), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will likely win 15% of the vote in the province if a 66% turnout is assumed, compared with just 4% in the last national election in 2019.

The ANC is likely to win only 13% of the vote, while the province's ruling DA will likely win 64%, up from 55%.

The EFF's provincial chairperson Unathi Ntame said, "Historically in the past elections, our organisation doesn’t put up provincial premier candidates; we have one face of our election campaign, which is that of our president."

The GOOD party's Brett Herron said they had not selected a premier candidate yet.

The African Christian Democratic Party's provincial leader Ferlon Christians said the party did not announce its premier candidate.

The Cape Independent Party has put forward its leader, Jack Miller, in the running for premier of the province.

"We look forward to waving the flag of Cape Independence in the halls of national and provincial government and continuing to hold both the ANC and the DA to account," the party told News24 in a statement.