Yelling By Ballot
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost significant support in the country’s municipal elections this week, according to early returns, garnering the worst results the party has seen since the end of apartheid, the Guardian reported Wednesday.
With more than half of polling stations reporting after Monday’s elections, the ANC appeared to have received slightly less than 46 percent of the vote, a new low: The ANC had always won more than 60 percent in every election since Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president in 1994.
The recent polls are seen as a referendum on a party, whose leaders and members, including former President Jacob Zuma, face corruption investigations.
Frustrations toward the governing party grew after rioting and looting gripped South Africa in July following Zuma’s imprisonment on contempt of court charges: He refused to testify during a corruption investigation. The unrest killed more than 354 people.
Meanwhile, ANC representatives have blamed the current results on the coronavirus pandemic, voter apathy and electricity blackouts. Even so, unemployment has hit 34 percent in Africa’s most industrialized nation.
Still, analyst Ralph Mathekga said the elections could be “a predictor for what is looming at the next general election.”
He explained that the party could be forced to govern in a coalition if it fails to go beyond the 50 percent threshold in the 2024 general elections.
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