South Africa elections will be held on May 29, 2024, with the governing ANC party facing tough challenges.
As the country prepares for the next chapter of its democracy, let’s look at how the electoral system works.
South Africa’s electoral system is unique. The country is a parliamentary democracy. However, contrary to most parliamentary democracies around the world, there is no prime minister in South Africa.
The President is the head of state and government. He leads the executive arm. Some describe this as a hybrid system—parliamentary and presidential.
South African citizens aged 18 and over are eligible to vote with nearly 28 million people registered for this year's elections, the highest since 1994.
However, a president is not elected by the masses directly. A president is elected by the parliament from among its members for a fixed term of five years, with a constitutional limit of two terms.
This means that to be the president or a presidential candidate, you must first be a member of parliament.
How are members of parliament chosen?
South Africa uses what is called a proportional representation voting system to choose members of parliament.
Under this system, the citizens cast their votes for political parties, not for individual candidates.
Each political party then gets a share of seats in Parliament in proportion to the number of votes it got across the country in the election. This is calculated in percentages.
For example, if a party gets 20% of all the votes in the country, then it gets 20% of the seats in Parliament.
There are 400 seats in South Africa’s national parliament, located in the city of Cape Town.
The party that gets the majority of parliamentary seats forms the government, and a president is elected from among its members, usually the leader of the party.
50% compulsory of votes
However, a party must secure at least 50% of votes to be able to form a government independently. If no party gets more than 50%, then the party with the highest percentage will form a coalition with one or more parties to establish a government.
The chief justice must oversee the election of the president by the National Assembly.
Once elected, a person is no longer a member of the National Assembly and must be sworn in as president within five days.
The president then appoints his deputy and ministers from among members of parliament. The government is formed. Apart from the legislature and executive, South Africa also has the judiciary.
The current South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, is seeking a second term in office.
He came to power in 2018 after then President Jacob Zuma resigned due to various scandals. Ramaphosa was deputy president.
Elections in South Africa are held every five years.
The apartheid system
From 1910 to 1994, virtually only the white minority had the right to vote and be voted for because of the apartheid system, a rule of racial discrimination against the black majority.
However, since the end of apartheid in 1994, there has been universal adult suffrage, allowing all adult citizens to vote irrespective of their race.
Since then, the African National Congress, or ANC, has been the political party governing the country.
However, as the country approaches new elections in May 2024, the party is believed to be facing its toughest challenge yet, due to internal wrangling with former President Jacob Zuma falling out with the party’s leadership as well as economic problems in recent years.
There is also the apparent growing strength of opposition political parties such as the Economic Freedom Fighters, led by Julius Malema, and the Democratic Alliance Party, led by John Steenhuisen.
Apart from the national elections, South Africa will also hold provincial elections.
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