(3 Minutes Read)
President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC are struggling to keep their parliamentary majority and opinion polls predict that the party will likely receive less than 50% of the national vote for the first time in the May 29 election. That doesn’t mean that the beleaguered ANC will be out of power in Africa’s most advanced economy.
South Africa’s election will determine the future of the ruling African National Congress party that has been in power since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. www.trendsnafrica.com in its recent editorial has made an incisive analysis of the factors that will impact the election process.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC are struggling to keep their parliamentary majority and opinion polls predict that the party will likely receive less than 50% of the national vote for the first time in the May 29 election. That doesn’t mean that the beleaguered ANC will be out of power in Africa’s most advanced economy.
Even as the famous organization once led by Nelson Mandela has seen a decline in its popularity, no one has risen to a position to replace it.Instead, some South Africans who have turned away from the ANC have gone looking for answers among an array of opposition parties. The ANC is still expected to gain the largest share of votes. But without an outright majority, it would need to form a coalition to stay in government and keep Ramaphosa for a second and final term as president.
A coalition government may not easily solve the country’s big problems, which include the world’s highest levels of unemployment and inequality. Many feel that it could lead to economic and political instability in the country, which is already undergoing harrowing experiences.
South Africans don’t vote directly for their president, but rather decide the makeup of Parliament, which is called the National Assembly.
They do that by choosing parties and those parties get seats in Parliament according to their share of the national vote. The 400-member National Assembly then elects the president, meaning whichever party has a majority chooses the head of state.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/south-africas-anc-unveils-election-manifesto/
https://trendsnafrica.com/south-african-elections-the-changing-political-landscape/
Just over 27 million of the population of 62 million are registered to vote in what is only the country’s seventh fully democratic national election since apartheid was dismantled. There are 70 political parties registered for the vote, the most ever, and independent candidates will be allowed to stand for the first time.
