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South Africa Election: Dominance of Mandela’s Former Party Wanes

30/05/2024
5 minutes

The ANC is not projected to get an absolute majority

The dominance in South Africa of the ANC (African National Congress) party, which has remained in power since Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994, is in question. According to projections published by South Africa’s national broadcaster eNca, the African National Congress will not win an absolute majority in the general election, stopping at 45 percent.

The Electoral Commission has now analyzed just over 20% of the votes and announced that the ANC is currently “below 43% of the vote.” It is followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 25.1%, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with support from 8.7% of voters, and former South African President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party at around 8 percent.

Opinion polls that preceded the May 29 vote predicted that ANC support for the election hovered around the 40 percent threshold. In other words, the ANC is at serious risk of failing to win an absolute majority of the 400 seats that make up the National Assembly after three decades of unchallenged dominance.