Brussels 29.05.2024 Polls in South Africa open at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and close at 9:00 pm, with 27 million registered voters called to elect a new parliament, which then chooses a President.

For the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994, the African National Congress party is at risk of losing its outright majority and could be forced to negotiate a coalition.
Under the leadership of the late Nelson Mandela, the ANC won freedom for black South Africans after decades of apartheid.

However a survey published last month indicated that corruption was the second-biggest concern for South Africans, after electricity blackouts which left homes and enterprises without power for up to 12 hours a day.
However, there have been no power-cuts for almost two months now, leading to a suspicion that the ANC has intentionally kept the lights on during the campaign – and they’ll be off again after the election.
President Ramaphosa said that power stations were “better maintained”, and the “excellent work” to tackle the energy crisis would be “completed” in the ANC’s next term. However the experts claim that the situation has improved because of the falling demand. Reacting to the shortages companies and private households invested hugely in solar panels to ensure the uninterrupted flow of electricity.

Despite multiple problems South Africa is facing, including water shortages and deteriorating roads and railways, the ANC is almost certain to remain the largest party, even if it fails to pass the 50% threshold.
Many voters still credit it for ending the racist system of apartheid and improving their lives by creating a welfare state and providing housing, although homelessness remains an issue.
An Ipsos opinion poll released last month gave it only around 22% of the vote to the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), while the Social Research Foundation’s tracking poll put its support earlier this month at between 24% and 27%.
The ANC’s chances of remaining the biggest party have been bolstered by the fact that the opposition is heavily divided. A total of 51 opposition parties are on the national ballot, competing for seats in parliament.
But the DA has also been shattered by splits. Two of its senior black leaders – Mmusi Maimane and Herman Mashaba – quit the party after the 2019 election, and have formed their own parties to contest Wednesday’s election.
Meanwhile President Ramphosa blasted the DA at his final campaign rally.
Without naming it, he dabbed the party’s pledge to phase out the national minimum wage as “outrageous”, especially “in these times of hardship”.
“These are the same reactionary forces that see nothing wrong in paying slave wages to illegal migrants while depriving law-abiding workers of the right to a living wage,” Ramaphosa said.

The DA’s support comes mainly from racial minorities – including Muslims in the coloured, as mixed-race South Africans are known, and Asian communities.
Muslims make up less than 2% of the population, but as each vote matters, the ANC is hoping they will vote for the party because of the strong support it has shown for Palestinians, taking Israel to the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide, which Israel denies.