Voting in a historic election that may bring an end to the African National Congress’s (30-year-old, uncontested hegemony) started underway on Thursday, with ballots being counted following long nights spent by voters.
With lengthy lines of voters stretching into the night, counting got underway in each polling place soon after the polls closed, and in several cities even after the scheduled Wednesday cutoff at 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT).
Though observers will be analyzing turnout numbers and preliminary results to determine whether the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has finally lost its overall parliamentary majority, the final outcome is not expected to be known until the weekend.
If President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party drops below 50 percent for the first time since it came to power in 1994 — in South Africa’s first democratic, post-apartheid election — it will force him to seek coalition partners if he is to be re-elected by parliament to form a new government.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said a last-minute rush in urban voting and high turnout were to blame for Wednesday’s late finish, but many voters complained at polling stations that the three-ballot system was too complex.
“We are experiencing a late surge and are processing a large number of voters,” IEC chief Sy Mamabolo told reporters, predicting that the final turnout figure would be “well beyond” the 66 percent recorded in the last election in 2019.
