South Africa - May 2024
Incumbent ANC loses national parliamentary majority in general elections
On 29 May, South Africa held general elections for the National Assembly (the lower chamber of the national parliament), and the nine provincial legislatures. Official results showed that the incumbent African National Congress (ANC) had won the largest share of the National Assembly’s 400 seats (159), followed by the Democratic Alliance (87 seats), uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) (58 seats) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) (39). It is the first time that the ANC has not won an absolute majority in the chamber since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. Of the 14,903 candidates contesting the national and provincial seats, 6,234 (41.86 per cent) were female. South Africa’s electoral commission reported turnout to be 58.58 per cent of registered voters. The results were contested by MK and several small parties, which alleged the elections had been rigged and vowed to mount a legal challenge. As of early June, MK had declined to publicly substantiate its claims. International observers assessed the polls to have been free and fair but noted that new electoral procedures were not consistently implemented and that many voters had experienced long waiting times, in part due to malfunctioning voter management equipment.
Sources: Electoral Commission of South Africa, South African Government, Daily Maverick, African Union, Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa, Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries
