Voting in the most competitive election since apartheid’s end, South Africans
In what is expected to be the most competitive election since apartheid ended, South Africans cast their ballots on Wednesday. After three decades in power, the African National Congress (ANC) may lose its legislative majority, according to polls.
Voters queued at many places, including Hitekani Primary School in the large slum of Soweto in Johannesburg, where President Cyril Ramaphosa was scheduled to cast his ballot later. Polling stations opened at or shortly after 7 a.m. (0500 GMT).
Shivambu Yuza Patric, 48, a security guard, arrived at the voting place directly following his night job. He stated he was hoping this election would bring about change, but he had not voted in the last election because he had lost faith in the ANC.
He criticized the ANC, saying, “They do nothing for the people.” He declared that he would choose his candidate at the last minute, although ActionSA, a tiny opposition party, was his preference.
The African National Congress (ANC), then led by Nelson Mandela, stormed to victory in South Africa’s first multiracial election in 1994 and has gone on to win a majority in the country’s five subsequent elections, despite a steady fall in its vote percentage.
The ANC will have to strike a deal with one or more smaller parties to win power if it doesn’t receive 50% of the vote this time. This will be unprecedented and possibly turbulent territory for the fledgling democracy, which has up until now been completely ruled by a single party.
But as the African National Congress (ANC) is still predicted to secure the biggest percentage of the vote, its leader, Ramaphosa, is likely to stay in office unless there is an internal challenge to him in the event that the party’s performance falls short of expectations.
The ANC’s slow decline is due to voter discontent with high unemployment and crime rates, frequent blackouts, and internal party corruption.
Andrew Mathabatha, 40, a self-employed engineer, arrived early to the Midrand High School in a northern Johannesburg neighborhood to cast his ballot. “I voted for the EFF and that’s because I need fresh minds in parliament,” he stated.
But as the African National Congress (ANC) is still predicted to secure the biggest percentage of the vote, its leader, Ramaphosa, is likely to stay in office unless there is an internal challenge to him in the event that the party’s performance falls short of expectations.
The ANC’s slow decline is due to voter discontent with high unemployment and crime rates, frequent blackouts, and internal party corruption.
He was alluding to Julius Malema, the fiery former head of the African National Congress’s youth wing, who created the Economic Freedom Fighters. In order to remedy racial and economic imbalances, it seeks to nationalize banks and mines as well as take land from white farmers.
Mathabatha stated, “I just think that it’s time for a different way of thinking and doing things because I feel like the current government is slow to implement certain things.”
At more than 23,000 polling places open till 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), more than 27 million South Africans are registered to vote.
In addition to a new national parliament that will select the nation’s next president, voters will select provincial legislatures in each of the nine provinces in the nation.
The pro-business Democratic Alliance, which received the second-highest vote share in 2019 and forged an alliance with many minor parties in an attempt to increase its popularity, is one of the opposition groups fighting for power.
Named after the ANC’s previous armed wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) is a new party that former president Jacob Zuma supports. Although he was forced to resign from office in 2018 due to a series of scandals, Zuma continues to have a significant impact, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, his home province.
The election commission is anticipated to begin disclosing preliminary results shortly after polls close. In the previous election, which was also held on a Wednesday, the commission announced the results on a Saturday even though it had seven days to do so,
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