South African election: Who are the main parties and can the ANC hold on to power?
Nearly 30 million South Africans are heading to the polls during a period of huge unemployment and high crime - with the ANC facing the prospect of losing its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid.
Wednesday 29 May 2024 09:10, UK
South Africa looks set for its most tightly-contested general election since the end of apartheid - with opinion polls suggesting the African National Congress (ANC) could lose its majority for the first time in 30 years.
Today's vote will mark the nation's seventh democratic general election - with the country having gone to the polls every five years since Nelson Mandela became president as the head of the ANC in 1994.
The party has been in power ever since, but South Africa's high rates of unemployment and crime mean voters could be set to bring about a new phase in the country's political history.
Here is everything you need to know about South Africa's general election.
Nearly 28 million South Africans will vote for representatives to sit in the national and provincial parliaments.
How does South Africa's election work?
South Africans will cast three votes on election day.
One ballot paper asks electors to vote for a political party. These parties are then allocated a share of 200 seats in the National Assembly based on how many votes they get.
The second one is a "province-to-national" ballot, which will include parties and independent candidates seeking to represent each of South Africa's nine provinces in the National Assembly.
Politicians elected in this second ballot will take up the other 200 seats in the assembly, with each province allocated a number of seats based on the size of its population.
The third ballot will be to elect members of the provincial legislature.
South Africans do not choose a president - the 400 members of the National Assembly vote for a new head of state within 30 days of the general election.
Who is running in the election?
A total of 70 political parties and 11 independent candidates will contest the national and provincial elections. The national ballot will have 52 parties listed.
Why does the ANC face the threat of losing its majority?
In the previous six elections the party has generally polled over 60% every time - however, its vote share has fallen steadily since its highest percentage of 70% in 2004.
One factor that has impacted the ANC's popularity is the state of the economy.
Although South Africans have on average become richer during the ANC's three decades in power - average incomes have been on a downward trend since 2011.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has said South Africa has the highest unemployment rate in the world, at 33%.
Crime is also a huge problem, with one person murdered in South Africa every 20 minutes in the last three months of 2023.
In the same period, more than 130 people were raped every day.
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What are the main parties opposing the ANC?
South Africa's main opposition is the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) - led by John Steenhuisen, who has suggested he would be willing to form a coalition with the ANC if his party doesn't secure a majority.
The DA claims the country is in "crisis" under the current government and wants the nation to move towards more privatisation.
The party has also pledged to create two million new jobs and "halve the rate of violent crime".
The third largest party in parliament is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - led by controversial former ANC member Julius Malema.
The party claims the ANC has still not put right the racial imbalances of apartheid, when the country was under white-minority rule, and has said it will redistribute land to the less well off.
The EFF also wants to nationalise mines, banks and other keys parts of the economy.
There is also the MK Party, led by former South African President Jacob Zuma - who was ousted in 2018 after facing corruption allegations.
He was later jailed for 15 months in 2021 for defying a court order.
Mr Zuma is leading the MK Party and remains the face of their campaign despite the fact he has been banned from running in the election because of his previous criminal conviction.
Who is expected to win the election?
Some polls have suggested the ANC is heading for less than 50% of the vote for the first time since 1994 - when white-minority rule ended and the party came to power.
This could mean the party has to enter into a coalition, but South Africa's constitution doesn't lay out how a coalition would work.
If the ANC remains the biggest party, smaller groups could agree to support the government on a vote-by-vote basis in exchange for concessions.
Alternatively, the ANC could enter a formal coalition with other parties.
Who is most likely to be South Africa's next president?
The ANC is still expected to win the largest share of the vote, so its leader President Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to remain in office, unless he faces an internal challenge if the party is perceived to have performed badly.
Mr Steenhuisen, whose DA party emerged from the liberal white benches of the old apartheid parliament, is the main challenger hoping to replace Mr Ramaphosa.
In an effort to win more than half of the votes needed to take power, the 48-year-old has formed a coalition with a number of smaller parties.
Meanwhile, EFF party leader Mr Malema is a former leader of the ANC's youth wing who was suspended by the party's disciplinary committee in 2011 for fomenting divisions in society.
His Marxist party advocates seizing land from white farmers to redistribute to black people and nationalising gold and platinum mines, much to the alarm of South Africa's business elite.
When will we know the result?
South Africa's electoral commission normally starts releasing partial results within hours of the polling stations closing.
By law the commission has seven days in which to announce full results.