JOHANNESBURG (AP) \u2014 South Africans voted Wednesday at schools, community centers, and in large white tents set up in open fields\u00a0in an election\u00a0seen as their country\u2019s most important in 30 years. It could put the young democracy in unknown territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At stake is the three-decade dominance of the\u00a0African National Congress party, which led South Africa out of\u00a0apartheid\u2019s brutal white minority rule\u00a0in 1994. It is now the target of a new generation of discontent in a country of 62 million people \u2014 half of whom are estimated to be living in poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After casting his vote, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he had no doubt his ANC would win with a majority and remain in government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Africa\u2019s most advanced economy has some of the world\u2019s\u00a0deepest socioeconomic problems, including one of the worst unemployment rates at 32%. The lingering inequality, with poverty and joblessness disproportionately affecting the Black majority, threatens to unseat the party that promised to end it by bringing down apartheid under the slogan of a better life for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur main issue here in our community is the lack of jobs,\u201d said Samuel Ratshalingwa, who was near the front of the queue at the same school in the Johannesburg township of Soweto where Ramaphosa voted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to use the vote to make our voices heard about this problem,\u201d said Ratshalingwa, who came out before 7 a.m. on a chilly winter morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After winning six successive national elections, several polls have the ANC\u2019s support at less than 50% ahead of this one, an unprecedented drop. It might lose its majority in Parliament for the first time, although it\u2019s widely expected to hold the most seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ANC won 57.5% of the vote in the last national election in 2019, its worst result to date and down from a high of nearly 70% of the vote 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramaphosa, the leader of the ANC, has promised to \u201cdo better.\u201d The ANC has asked for more time and patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 71-year-old Ramaphosa sat alongside other voters in Soweto, where he was born, before shaking hands with two smiling officials who registered him and then voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have no doubt whatsoever in my heart of hearts that the people will once again invest confidence in the African National Congress to continue to lead this country,\u201d Ramaphosa said. He said he was certain South Africans would give the ANC \u201ca firm majority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any change in the ANC\u2019s hold on power could be monumental for South Africa. If it does lose its majority, the ANC will likely face the prospect of having to form a coalition with others to stay in government and keep Ramaphosa as president for a second term. The ANC having to co-govern has never happened before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africans vote for parties, not directly for their president. The parties then get seats in Parliament according to their share of the vote and those lawmakers elect the president after the election. The ANC has always had a majority in Parliament since 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election was to be held\u00a0on one day across South Africa\u2019s nine provinces, with nearly 28 million people registered to vote at more than 23,000 polling stations. Final results are expected by Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The opposition to the ANC in this election is fierce, but fragmented. The two biggest opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters, are not predicted to increase their vote by anything near enough to overtake the ANC. The DA is part of an agreement with other smaller parties to combine their vote in an effort to remove the ANC completely, but that\u2019s not seen as likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disgruntled South Africans are moving to an array of opposition parties; more than 50 will contest the national election, many of them new. One is led by South Africa\u2019s former President Jacob Zuma, who has\u00a0turned against his former ANC allies. Zuma was disqualified from standing as a candidate for Parliament but his MK Party is still contesting and is the wild card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ANC says it is confident of retaining its majority and analysts have not ruled that out, given the party\u2019s decades of experience in government and its unmatched grassroots campaigning machine. It still has wide support, especially among older voters and those in more rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI woke up at 4 a.m. this morning, took a bath and made my way,\u201d said 68-year-old Velaphi Banda, adding he has voted for the ANC since 1994 and would do so again. \u201cI was never undecided about which party I will vote for. I have always known.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramaphosa has pointed out how South Africa is a far better country now than under apartheid, when Black people were barred from voting, weren\u2019t allowed to move around freely, had to live in certain areas and were oppressed in every way. This election is only South Africa\u2019s seventh national vote in which people of all races are allowed to take part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Memories of that era of apartheid, and\u00a0the defining election that ended it\u00a0in 1994, still frame much of everyday South Africa. But fewer remember it as time goes on, and this election might give voice to a younger generation who weren\u2019t born when apartheid fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vote will showcase the country\u2019s contradictions, from the economic hub of Johannesburg \u2014 labelled Africa\u2019s richest city \u2014 to the picturesque tourist destination of Cape Town, to the informal settlements of shacks in their outskirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were delays in some polling stations opening, with voting due to start at 7 a.m. and end at 9 p.m. South Africa has held peaceful and credible elections since a violent buildup to the pivotal 1994 election. The independent electoral commission said two days of special early voting went smoothly on Monday and Tuesday, although two people were arrested for interfering with voting operations, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa will deploy nearly 3,000 soldiers across the country to ensure a peaceful election, authorities said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While 80% of South Africans are Black, it\u2019s a multiracial country with significant populations of white people, those of Indian descent, those with biracial heritage and others. There are 12 official languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the diversity that\u00a0Nelson Mandela, South Africa\u2019s first Black president, highlighted as a beautiful thing by referring to his country as a \u201cRainbow Nation.\u201d It\u2019s a diversity that, with the emergence of many new opposition parties, also might now be reflected in its politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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