On May 29, South Africans will elect a new National Assembly and new state parliaments in national and regional elections. The National Assembly will elect the president for the next five years.

These will be the country’s seventh democratic parliamentary elections since the end of apartheid in 1994 when Nelson Mandela was elected president and the ANC won 62.5 percent of the 400 seats in the National Assembly.

After 30 years of dominance, the African National Congress (ANC) is facing its most difficult election yet: to maintain its parliamentary majority, it needs 50 percent of the votes in the National Assembly.

When do the polling stations open?

A total of 23,292 polling stations will be open from 7am to 9pm (05:00 GMT to 19:00 GMT). Election day is a public holiday to facilitate voting.

According to the Election Commission of South Africa (IEC), 27.79 million South Africans aged 18 and over have registered to vote this year, compared to 26.74 million in 2019.

Registered voters living abroad can cast their ballots on May 17 and 18, and voters with special needs, including pregnant women and people with disabilities, will cast their ballots two days before Election Day on May 27 and 28.

How does the election work?

South Africa has a proportional representation system in which parties and candidates compete for 400 seats in parliament, the National Assembly.

For the first time, independent candidates will take part in the elections. To reflect this change, voters will receive three ballot papers instead of two, each of which will allow them to select a party or candidate.

The National Assembly is elected in two rounds, and the third round elects members of the provincial parliaments in each of South Africa’s nine provinces.

South Africa’s electoral authority, the IEC14,889 candidates, including 70 political parties and 11 independents, contested 887 seats in the May vote.

• National ballot paper (blue ballot paper)
  • Equal vote across the country
  • Voters choose one of 52 political parties
  • Represents 200 seats in the National Assembly

• Regional National Assembly (orange ballot paper)
  • Unique for each province
  • Voters choose either a political party or an independent candidate.
  • Represents the remaining 200 seats in the National Assembly

• Provincial Parliament (pink ballot paper)
  • Unique for each province
  • Voters elect political parties and independent candidates
  • The number of seats depends on the population size of each province

Who currently sits in the South African National Assembly?

The South African lower house of parliament currently has 14 political parties with a total of 400 members. Seats are allocated proportionally based on the votes each party received in the 2019 election.

• African National Congress (ANC): 230 seats (57.5 percent)
• Democratic Alliance (DA): 84 seats (21 percent)
• Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): 44 seats (11 percent)
• Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP): 14 seats (3.5 percent)

The remaining 28 seats are shared by ten other parties.

How is the president elected in South Africa?

South Africans do not elect the president directly.

Instead, they elect 400 members of the National Assembly, who then elect the president by a simple majority – 201 or more votes decide the presidency.

If the ANC wins more than 50 percent of the seats, 71-year-old President Cyril Ramaphosa would most likely be re-elected for his second and final five-year term as president.

What happens if no party gets a majority?

Opinion polls suggest that the ruling ANC, which has around 40 percentwill probably lose its majority.

If this happens, the ANC must try to form a coalition government with the other parties. The choice of coalition partner depends on its distance from the 50 percent mark.

However, unless the ANC’s performance is significantly worse than expected, there is little chance that it will be removed from government entirely.

How has the ANC performed in previous elections?

The ANC has won every election since the end of apartheid in 1994, when Mandela became the country’s first black president.

In the 1994 and 1999 elections, the ANC won 62.5 percent and 66.36 percent of the vote respectively, with high voter turnouts of 86 percent and 89 percent respectively.

In 2004, despite a low turnout of 76 percent, the ANC reached its highest level, winning almost 70 percent of the vote and securing Thabo Mbeki a second term as president.

In September 2008, Kgalema Motlanthe assumed the role of interim president after President Mbeki resigned at the request of his party. He held the office until 2009, when Jacob Zuma took office following the ANC’s victory with almost 66 percent of the vote.

Five years later, in the 2014 elections, the ANC emerged victorious, albeit with 62 percent of the vote. The Democratic Alliance (DA) made significant gains, securing 22 percent of the vote. The newly founded Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party under the former president of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), Julius Malema, received 6 percent of the vote.

In 2018, after years of internal disputes and scandals, Zuma announced his resignation, and Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa took over as president.

In the 2019 elections, voter turnout reached a low of 66 percent; the ANC received 57.5 percent of the vote.

Who is likely to win?

Four of the biggest players to watch in this year’s election are the ANC, the DA, the MK and the EFF.

ANC – Cyril Ramaphosa (71)

According to the latest opinion poll by the local broadcaster ResistanceSupport for the ANC is around 43.4 percent – ​​an increase of two percentage points from two months ago.

The ANC is expected to win a majority in seven of South Africa’s nine provinces.

However, a defeat against Jacob Zuma’s party “uMkhonto we Sizwe” (MK) is expected in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), as well as in the Western Cape province, where the DA is on the verge of another election victory.

DA – John Steenhuisen (48)

In second place with around 18.6 percent of the polls is the official opposition party DA, which is pursuing its election campaign with the slogan “Save South Africa”.

The DA currently has a majority in the South African province of the Western Cape, with Cape Town as its capital. In the 2019 elections, it won 55.45 percent of the votes in the province.

MK – Jacob Zuma (82)

The MK party, named after the former paramilitary wing of the ANC uMkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), is currently in third place in the polls with 14.1 percent.

Former President Zuma’s party was founded in 2023 and is expected to take seats from the ANC.

In May, the South African Constitutional Court ruled blocked Zuma is barred from running for parliament in 2021 following his conviction for contempt of court. However, he remains the party’s figurehead and is expected to field a party candidate as his replacement.

EFF – Julius Malema (43)

In fourth place with 11.4 percent is the anti-establishment party EFF led by Julius Malema.

Malema was once an ally of Zuma and was expelled from the ANC in 2012 due to disagreements with the then president and other party members. He then founded the EFF in 2013.

When will the results be announced?

The IEC Partial results usually begin to be published within a few hours after polls close.

In the last national election, which took place on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, the final results were announced three days later on Saturday, May 11.

However, since there is one more vote to be counted this year, verifying the results may take longer.

The IEC announces that it will announce the election results on Sunday, June 2.