South Africa’s Crucial Elections

South Africans are heading to the polls to participate in national and provincial elections, a pivotal event for the country’s democracy and governance. The African National Congress (ANC), which has been the dominant political force for 30 years, faces its most challenging election yet. To maintain its parliamentary majority, the ANC needs to secure at least 50 percent of the National Assembly seats.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has formed a coalition pact with 10 other parties. Together, they aim to gather enough votes to unseat the ANC from power. South Africa uses a proportional voting system, with parties and candidates vying for 400 seats in the National Assembly.

The president is not directly elected by voters but chosen by the new National Assembly, usually the leader of the majority party. Former President Jacob Zuma shocked many when he announced in December his departure from the ANC to campaign for a new party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), or Spear of the Nation. Although barred from running for parliament due to a conviction for contempt of court, Zuma remains on the ballot as MK’s leader. Opinion polls suggest MK could secure about 10% of the vote, particularly strong in Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal, where campaign tensions have led to some violence.

For the first time, independent candidates are also participating in the elections. Voters will receive three ballots: two for the National Assembly and one for the provincial legislature in each of South Africa’s nine provinces. The National Assembly’s 400 seats are split between a national ballot (blue ballot) and regional ballots (orange ballot). Additionally, voters will use a pink ballot to elect members of their provincial legislature.

These elections are critical in shaping the country’s leadership and policies, reflecting the progress since the end of apartheid in 1994, when Nelson Mandela was elected president with the ANC winning 62.5 percent of the National Assembly seats. About 27.79 million South Africans aged 18 and above have registered to vote, up from 26.74 million in 2019. However, approximately 13.7 million eligible voters did not register, with eight million of them being under the age of 30.

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