18 million expected to Vote in South African elections
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Historic election 15 years since the end of racial segregation is set to be largest yet.
South Africa is preparing for its largest voter turnout ever ahead of the fourth democratic elections in the country, since the apartheid finished.
Although a large number of the population delayed their registration, a recent gush of voters takes the eligible voters count to 23 million people, 80 per cent of whom are expected to vote in the coming election.
Poor weather around the Eastern Cape threatened to keep people away from the voting booths, but not to be dissuaded; voters turned up in their thousands and endured the discomfort of the severe wind and rain in order to cast their vote. Even the more remote polling stations, which were hampered by rain disrupting the main access roads, had solid turnouts for South Africa’s most competitive election to date.
Whilst the current governing party, the African National Congress (ANC) is expected to remain in power, the ballot is by no means certain. The ANC took 70 per cent of the vote in the last election, but splinter factions from within the party, including the Congress of the People (Cope) look likely to reduce their majority to about 60 per cent.
25 national parties are running against the ANC this year and early indications point to the Western Cape to be the first province in 15 years to be governed by a democratic party outside of the ANC. Should the ANC lose its two-thirds majority, the party will lose its ability to rubber stamp changes in constitution which should make the new government more accountable for their actions.
Former President Thabo Mbeki hailed the democratic voting system as it becomes increasingly stable in South Africa: “People should vote for who they want, not out of fear, but for the party they believe will deliver the South Africa they want,” he told the BBC as he cast his vote earlier this morning.
