It was election day in South Africa, and the vote counting is under way. Out of a population of 62 million, a record 27.8 million voters have been registered.
The main party leaders are (from bbc.com/news):
African National Congress/ANC: Cyril Ramaphosa – union leader, mine boss, president;
Democratic Alliance/ DA: John Steenhuisen – the man vowing to ‘rescue’ South Africa;
Economic Freedom Front/ EFF: Julius Malema – the radical agenda-setter;
uMkhonto weSizwe/ MK: Jacob Zuma – ex-president, spent time in jail, the political wildcard.
Citizens vote for political parties, though— and then the national assembly of 400 representatives, based on the outcome of the national election, will vote for a president. A simple majority of 201 suffices.
The Big Question for 2024: will national support for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC party fall below 50% for the first time since 1994?
We will soon know. (The final results should be available by Sunday, or earlier). If that is the case, the ANC will have to form a coalition with other parties to choose a president and form a governing majority. I cannot see that even in this scenario, anyone other than Ramaphosa will become president. But hopefully the ANC’s majority power (that they had abused ever after Mandela had left office in 1999), will be reined in.
It is a minor accomplishment just to find your party on each of the ballots.
South Africa’s election management body, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), had cleared 14,889 candidates, including 70 political parties and 11 independents, to contest 887 seats in the May 29 vote.
[Picture posted by Rene Vollgraaff@vollgraaffR on X]