By Marline Atieno
South Africans are heading to the polls in what is widely regarded as the most competitive election since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Led by Nelson Mandela, the ANC rose to power in South Africa’s first multi-racial election in 1994 and has maintained a majority in national elections held every five years since, though its vote share has progressively decreased.
If it fails to secure 50% of the vote this time, the ANC will need to form a coalition with one or more smaller parties to govern an unprecedented and potentially challenging scenario for a young democracy that a single party has dominated until now.
The opposition parties include the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Voter dissatisfaction with issues such as corruption, economic inequality and high unemployment rates has intensified the political contest, making this election a critical test for the ruling party.
Nevertheless, the ANC is expected to secure the largest share of the vote indicating that its leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, will likely remain in office.
However, if the party’s performance falls short of expectations, he might face an internal challenge.
Over 27 million South Africans are registered to vote at more than 23,000 polling stations which will be open from 0500 GMT to 1900 GMT.
Voters will select provincial assemblies in each of the country’s nine provinces and a new national parliament which will subsequently elect the next president.
Former president Jacob Zuma is supporting a new party named uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), after the ANC’s former armed wing.
Despite resigning as president in 2018 due to numerous scandals, Zuma remains influential especially in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
The election commission is anticipated to begin releasing partial results shortly after polling stations close.
While the commission has seven days to announce the final results, in the last election held on a Wednesday, the final results were announced by Saturday.