PRE-ELECTION PREDICTIONS that the African National Congress (ANC) could experience a dramatic fall in support were proved wrong yesterday when the ruling party was returned to power with about a two-thirds majority.
Although the former liberation movement appeared to be falling just short of securing the super majority – 66.7 per cent – it needs to pass legislation without opposition support in parliament, there was no doubt that the ANC would be governing South Africa for the next five years.
With less than 10 per cent of the estimated 17 million votes that were cast left to count by early evening, the ANC had received a mandate to rule from 66.5 per cent of the electorate, according to data interpreted by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
The final result from the country’s fourth democratic election is not expected to be released until today, as the IEC was investigating 12 complaints over polling discrepancies, and a few ballot stations needed to finalise their results.
Although the ANC secured more votes this time round than it did in 2004, its percentage of the tally was down 2 per cent, because 1.6 million new voters had registered to cast their ballot for the first time.
Nevertheless, the result means that ANC leader Jacob Zuma, whose career seemed in tatters only fours years ago after allegations of corruption and rape were made against him, will be inaugurated in Pretoria on May 9th as the country’s next president.
Although the ANC lost control of the Western Cape province to a slick and well-focused campaign by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), it won the remaining eight provinces, although in many instances by a much smaller margin of victory than in 2004.
Significantly, the ANC annihilated the Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party in its traditional stronghold, KwaZulu-Natal province, a territory that has never had an outright winner in the 15 years of democratic rule.
The DA’s status as the official opposition remained intact, with the party, which is guided by former journalist Helen Zille, securing 19 per cent of the vote as well as control of the Western Cape province. The newly formed Congress of the People (Cope) came a distant third with 8 per cent nationally. However, party chairman Mosiuoa Lekota said: “We are thrilled for a party that is only 138 days old to go into an election in all these provinces and conquer seats in each one is an astounding achievement. While we hoped for more, one must consider the ground we had to cover in such a short time.
“We now welcome the challenge of representing the voters who put their faith in us. So we should explore all ways we can to build a strong opposition and use that as a means to monitor the effectiveness of the ruling party,” he said.
Cope spokesman JJ Tabane said the new party was expecting to get 32 to 40 seats in parliament.
The Southern African Development Corporation electoral observer mission also gave the general election its stamp of approval, saying “the elections were fair, transparent and credible”.
The Election Monitoring Network congratulated South Africans for their resilience, maturity and responsibility, saying: “in the midst of the phenomenal opening of political space, sanity has prevailed”.
“We call on all political parties to maintain respect for one another [and] to recognise the outcome of the election results,” Derrick Marco of the network said.
