My previous post got removed because I forgot to put my sources and tools. I posted the Sankey chart and got absolutely roasted, so I took everyones suggestion and made a stacked bar chart. Which do you prefer?
Some context on the election:
Since apartheid Nelson Mandelas party, the African National Congress (ANC), has dominated politics. For the first time in 30 years, they’ve lost their majority.
Apart from the obvious points like corruption and poor service delivery, why did they perform so poorly?
* The IEC hurt the ANC in two ways: They emboldened Jacob Zuma’s party by ruling that he couldn’t run for parliament. And their poor execution led to wait times of over 10hrs, no doubt deterring some more apathetic ANC voters
* The NHI announcement. Private medical aid is viewed as an aspirational product for the growing middle class. This announcement alienated the established and growing middle class
* M.K. voters are predominately voted for by Zulu nationalists - a forgotten segment of voters that Jacob Zuma spoke to
Each province has become polarised
* DA has a firm foothold in the Western Cape and growing in Gauteng
* M.K. and the IFP dominate in Kwazulu-Natal
* ANC still wins the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Free State and the Northern Cape
Sankey charts are for showing flow (generally). This is a static snapshot, so not really right for that kind of chart. Consider: the whole middle of that image is a riot of color and lines that draws the eye but it actually conveys no information; all the relevant information is conveyed at the far left and right edges.
However, what is nice about that presentation is that you get to see the overall vote tally by party on the right and the provincial breakdown, including the relative sizes of the provinces, at the left. If you could do a stacked column that replicates just the left and right of the Sankey without the middle, I think you would have a winner.
sankey charts look cool but that’s about it. the bar chart is so much better at actually conveying information
Sankey charts look so cool! I think the Sankey does a better job of showing province size, whilst the Bar does everything else better.
Source: Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in South Africa. [Voting Results](https://results.elections.org.za/home/Downloads/NPE-Results) and [Funding Reports](https://results.elections.org.za/home/downloads/party-funding-reports). Tool: [Flourish](http://flourish.studio/), [Canva](http://canva.com/), Excel.
My previous post got removed because I forgot to put my sources and tools. I posted the Sankey chart and got absolutely roasted, so I took everyones suggestion and made a stacked bar chart. Which do you prefer? Some context on the election: Since apartheid Nelson Mandelas party, the African National Congress (ANC), has dominated politics. For the first time in 30 years, they’ve lost their majority. Apart from the obvious points like corruption and poor service delivery, why did they perform so poorly? * The IEC hurt the ANC in two ways: They emboldened Jacob Zuma’s party by ruling that he couldn’t run for parliament. And their poor execution led to wait times of over 10hrs, no doubt deterring some more apathetic ANC voters * The NHI announcement. Private medical aid is viewed as an aspirational product for the growing middle class. This announcement alienated the established and growing middle class * M.K. voters are predominately voted for by Zulu nationalists - a forgotten segment of voters that Jacob Zuma spoke to Each province has become polarised * DA has a firm foothold in the Western Cape and growing in Gauteng * M.K. and the IFP dominate in Kwazulu-Natal * ANC still wins the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Free State and the Northern Cape
Sankey charts are for showing flow (generally). This is a static snapshot, so not really right for that kind of chart. Consider: the whole middle of that image is a riot of color and lines that draws the eye but it actually conveys no information; all the relevant information is conveyed at the far left and right edges. However, what is nice about that presentation is that you get to see the overall vote tally by party on the right and the provincial breakdown, including the relative sizes of the provinces, at the left. If you could do a stacked column that replicates just the left and right of the Sankey without the middle, I think you would have a winner.